We Do Not Torture

I've been trying to branch out from screenwriting. I'd like to start writing plays. More specifically, theater of the absurd. Here is my first attempt. I call it "We Do Not Torture."

CAST OF CHARACTERS

PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH
VOICE OF REASON
SENATOR MCCAIN

[The PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES and the VOICE OF REASON sit on a rock. As they speak, they try on a pair of boots (one boot each), then switch boots, then discard them altogether.]

ACT 1

BUSH: We do not torture.
REASON: But what about those people in Abu Gharib? Surely we have confirmed reports that some of them were tortured.
BUSH: We do not torture.
REASON: But there are pictures.
BUSH: We do not torture.
REASON: They're famous! They've already become cliches in America. Like that one with the woman smoking a cigarette and pointing to the half-naked Arab man.
BUSH: We do not torture.
REASON: I've seen them.
BUSH: We do not torture.
REASON: But other countries have confirmed that we house prisoners there.
BUSH: We do not torture.
REASON: Well, why would we even be hiding these people, including people who have committed no crime and have never been officially charged with a crime, in foriegn prisons if not to torture them?
BUSH: We do not torture.
REASON: You're going to deny it in the face of all that evidence?
BUSH: Hang on. I'm going to go clear some brush.

[The PRESIDENT leaves the rock and disappears off-stage.]

ACT 2

[The PRESIDENT, having returned from cleaning brush, is now perched atop his rock again. He's naked except for a cowboy hat. Another man, dressed in a smart suit, enters from off-stage. He is SENATOR MCCAIN.]

BUSH: We do not torture.
MCCAIN: Well, then, Mr. President, woudl you just sign this paper promising not to torture anyone?
BUSH: No.
MCCAIN: Why not?
BUSH: We do not torture.
MCCAIN: Then just sign this paper promising that you don't torture, and won't torture, and I'll get out of your hair.
BUSH: Um. No.

ACT 3

[PRESIDENT BUSH stands alone on a dark stage. He has some clothes on now, a suit like the one MCCAIN wore.]

BUSH: We do not torture. We do not torture. We do not torture. We do not torture. We do not torture. We do not torture. We do not torture. We do not torture. We do not torture. We do not torture. We do not torture. We do not torture. We do not torture. We do not torture. We do not torture. We do not torture. We do not torture. We do not torture. We do not torture. We do not torture. We do not torture. We do not torture. We do not torture. We do not torture. We do not torture. We do not torture. We do not torture. We do not torture. We do not torture.