Fortune Cookie

Synopsis

A light-hearted look at how semantics inform our perceptions.

Script History

“Fortune Cookie” was produced at Station Hope, Cleveland 2022.

Excerpt

ACT I
SCENE 1

The living room of LEIGH and ABBEY’s upscale apartment. The décor is modern. There’s a flatscreen TV on low volume. LEIGH and ABBEY sit on different pieces of furniture watching the game.

ABBEY
Fortune Cookies.

LEIGH
Huh? What?

ABBEY
Fortune Cookies. When was the last time we sat in a Chinese restaurant and read those goofy fortune cookies?

LEIGH
Fortune cookies? Gee, Abbey, I don’t know. Are you supposed to say ‘Chinese’ restaurant anymore?

ABBEY
Excuse me – Asian restaurant. But if you say Asian, how will you know if I’m talking about Thai, Vietnamese, Korean, Chinese, Japanese or some other kind of food?

LEIGH
Hey, I didn’t make the rules, I’m just trying not to break ‘em and keep everybody happy.

ABBEY
Yeah, ok, alright. But I’m talking specifically about Chinese fortune cookies.

LEIGH
But you know, when we go to Thai restaurants, they give us fortune cookies.

ABBEY
Do you think there are different nationalities of fortune cookies? Is that what you’re saying?

LEIGH
I have no idea! I’m just saying that when you go for Thai, and Chinese food, you get a fortune cookie.

ABBEY
Ok, but when we get the fortune cookies, they taste the same. Thai restaurant fortune cookies don’t taste different than Chinese restaurant fortune cookies.

LEIGH
You know how they taste?

ABBEY
Yes. I eat them. Don’t you?

LEIGH
Eat them? Nobody eats a fortune cookie. You crack it open, read it, and leave the crumbs.

ABBEY
Can we get back to the subject at hand?

LEIGH
I thought we were. You said you wanted fortune cookies and we were talking about that. This is weird.