"OH HI, GRACE & JOE"

Scene 1 [March 2016. Grace is sitting in the AmeriCorps office at the Robinson Community Learning Center in South Bend, IN. Joe enters.] Joe: Is Christy here? Grace: I think she just stepped out. Joe: Okay, I'm Joe. I'm visiting for the day. Grace: I'm Grace, I'm Christy's full-time AmeriCorps member. Joe: Okay. [Blackout.] Scene 2 [February 2017. Joe is sitting in the AmeriCorps office at the Robinson Community Learning Center in South Bend, IN. Grace enters.] Grace: I'm back to do more AmeriCorps. Joe: Okay, I'm the half-time AmeriCorps member now because I liked what I saw in March of 2016. Grace: Cool, let's lead theater games with our pal Mr. Elliot and become friends through teaching Shakespeare together and make a mash-up of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia and A Midsummer Night's Dream and lead an iconic lesson involving the God of Celebration. Joe: Okay sounds good. Grace: Zip. Joe: Zap. Grace: Zop. [Blackout.] Scene 3 [July 2017. Outside the bounds of time and space. Dreamlike, with the faint smell of food being served to children in the RCLC multipurpose room.] Grace: I like you. Joe: I like you. [Blackout.] Scene 4 [August 2017. Grace and Joe sit at a Denny's in Michigan City. They go onto Facebook and make their relationship official by millennial standards. Pancakes arrive at the table. Jump to I <3 South Bend sign on a night 3 weeks later. They sit in front of it.] Joe: I love you. Grace: I love you. [Blackout.] Scene 5 [Chaotic montage accompanied by The Playlist. Projections display the years 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 at random intervals. Joe and Grace chaperone a trip to England. Grace directs a play in Massachusetts. A variety of Nut City parties flash by. A variety of Shrine of Boris parties flash by. Nothing of Joe's time at Nuner is displayed, but the bad vibes are felt. Every once in awhile there is a curtain speech from South Bend Civic Theatre or Art4. Lots of hugs, lots of weird nicknames. COVID masks come on and off. Toes get chopped. Cheers for Joe getting into grad school. A move to Bloomington. Lots of love between Grace and Joe and a growing commitment to one another amid the love of family and friends.] Scene 6 [March 2022. Grace and Joe sit in Chicory Cafe in South Bend, IN.] Grace: My mom says she needs to call me about something important, I'm nervous something is wrong. [Phone rings. Grace answers and steps outside the cafe and heads to the I <3 SB sign in downtown South Bend. The Men in Black (aka dear friends Pax and Myrrha) enter Chicory. Pax improvises some epic lines, referring to Joe exclusively as Mr. Russo. They play a video for Joe instructing him to go to the place where he first said "I love you" to Grace. The Men in Black put a pillowcase over Joe's head and lead him to the sign. When he arrives, the pillowcase is removed and Grace is there to show him a video of their finest moments together. After some brief babbling...] Grace: Will you marry me? Joe: Yes. [Blackout.] Scene 7 [Chaotic montage accompanied by The Playlist. A life together full of love, highs, lows, commitment, and adventure.]