The audience can be used as extras. One can be the security officer seated in a chair by the door, quietly watching to make sure Libertine doesn't try to escape. The others can be the shy students in the circle who never contribute to the discussion.

Scene:
A classroom with the students, the teacher, and the guest speaker seated in chairs that are in a semi-circle. The teacher and the guest speaker are seated next to each other. There is a sign on the wall that reads "No fowl language. Leave barnyard words down on the farm!"

Barnes
Today I've asked (Ms./ Mr.) Libertine to speak to us about what life is like in jail and how (she/he) would change (her/his) life if it could be lived over.
All the kids titter a bit and whisper to each other.

Libertine
Well, um. Like it's not fun to be here wearing bright orange and having all you dang kids stare at me like I'm a . . .

Barnes
Interrupts, rather upset.
No swearing! Do you see that sign?
Gets up and takes sign from the wall and almost thrusts it into Libertine's face.

Libertine
Sorry. I just wanted to let you know that I'm not having a good time here. Not that it would be all that much fun back in the jail. I'd still be wearing this orange jumpsuit. But I wouldn't have these da . . .
Looks quickly at Barnes who has thrust the sign at Libertine again.
. . . these blankety blank chains on. I'd be watching TV in a concrete room with a locked door. It's called a tank. About eight inmates live in it. We each have a cot with a hard, plastic-covered mattress and a wool army blanket.

Caelin
You mean you get to watch TV all day?

Kelsey
And you don't have to go to school?

Brodie
And you don't have to do any dishes? Or clean your room?

Libertine
I'm one of the lucky ones who gets to go to class, but that's only for a couple of hours a day on weekdays. It's boring to watch TV all day. And it's noisy in the tank even at night. A lot of times, day or night, people get mad at each other and yell at each other. Gets on my nerves like hell!

Barnes
Stop swearing! We don't use bad words in this classroom!

Libertine
Sorry. Just slips out. But I ain't said anything really bad! You should hear the words that people in my tank say when they get mad at each other.

Brodie
They can say any word they want? Nobody cares?

Libertine
After awhile you don't even notice those words. They lose all their punch and don't mean anything, really.

Barnes
But when you talk like that out in the world, it makes such a bad impression that people will stay away from you. They won't want you to work for them. Except in the kind of job that doesn't pay much and is very hard work.

Libertine
Yeah, that's true. I don't want to be around tough-talking people when I get out. I'm sick of it. I'm sick of the fighting and yelling and whining about how everything is someone else's fault and . . . well, having to be locked up with miserable people for endless hours and endless days and eternal months is . . . well, you can't even imagine how depressing that is.

Kelsey
How long have you been in jail?

Brodie
Will you have to stay there forever? When will you get out?

Caelin
What did you do to get in there?

Libertine
Whoa! One at a time! I've been locked up for three months. I have to stay another nine months. That seems like forever!

Caelin
But what did you do?

Libertine
My whole life is a mess. I thought I was such a cool (chick, dude) when I was your age. First I started smoking. Thought it made me look like a teenager. What it made me look like was a da . .
Glances at Barnes and her sign.
. . like a oink-oink fool! Then I HAD to smoke and I couldn't stop. Next thing I knew I was drinking beer because all the kids were drinking it, and they made fun of me if I didn't join in. And then I was drinking way too much beer, and I couldn't stop that, either. If I tried to stop, it made me feel like I was going to die! I didn't have enough money to buy all that beer and cigarettes. And I didn't have money to buy cool clothes or the other things the kids I hung out with had. So I began shoplifting. And I began dealing weed. Then I had lots of money and all the stuff I wanted.

Barnes
And the next thing you knew you were wearing an orange jumpsuit locked up in a concrete room with noisy people who yell at each other?

Libertine
First I was arrested for shoplifting.

Kelsey
You've been arrested more than once?

Libertine
Yeah. Since it was a first offense, they didn't keep me long. But it was still pretty scary. A police officer put handcuffs on me and leg irons and took me to the jail. We went through a big iron gate. It clanged shut and locked behind us. Then a big iron door slid open. We went through it and it slid shut with a clang behind us.

We were in a hallway with jail cells on two sides. Men were in them, some looking out, some sleeping on the built-in cot. The officer removed my chains and talked to someone through a window in an enclosed room. A warden came and fingerprinted me in the hallway. Then they locked me up in one of the cells in that first hallway.

I got out on bail and then got a suspended sentence. But I thought I was so smart to beat the rap, that I went right back to dealing and drinking and stealing. The next time I got arrested, I ended up in the tank. It's a . . . moo-moo . . . nightmare!

Barnes
If you could be a kid again and know what you know now, what would you do differently?

Libertine
I would be VERY careful who my friends were. I wouldn't hang out with kids who were trying to be cool.

Kelsey
You mean you'd be a nerd?

Libertine
Nerds don't end up in jail, do they?

Brodie
Yeah, but what if kids didn't like you? Maybe you'd be lucky to have any friends at all!

Barnes
It's not the worst thing that could happen not to be popular. When I was a kid, I didn't pay much attention to the other kids. I kept mostly to myself.

Caelin
Weren't you lonely?

Barnes
No. I liked to read, so I spent a lot of time reading books that were very exciting to me.

Brodie
You didn't have any friends?

Barnes
I didn't have any close friends at school. I had a friend in my neighborhood. And several friends at my church.

Libertine
I wish I'd been like that. I was so scared of being left out that I did whatever the other kids in my group did so I could belong. And now I belong to a bunch of losers!

Kelsey
Do you have any kids of your own?

Libertine
Yeah, I have a son.

Caelin
Who's taking care of him while you're in jail?

Libertine
My grandmother. She's almost eighty, so it's very hard for her to watch him. I'm really worried that he'll get in with a bad crowd while I'm in jail. I can't be a good parent when I'm not home.

Brodie
What are you going to tell him when you get out? Does he know you're in jail?

Libertine
I lied to him at first. But his friends found out and made fun of him. Now he doesn't trust me because I didn't tell him the truth. It will be very hard, but I want to ask him to forgive me and let us make a new start. I want to help him make better choices than I did, so his life won't get messed up.

Kelsie
How old were you when your son was born?

Libertine
I was sixteen. I'd dropped out of school. I couldn't even support my kid. That's not fun, either, let me tell you. You've got to have a caseworker who knows all your business and tells you what to do. I want to get a job when I get out and not have to depend on a welfare check. That's why I go to class in the jail. So I can pass my GED and have a chance to get a better job. But lots of people won't hire someone who has been in jail.

Brodie
Why not?

Libertine
Because people don't trust anyone who has been a thief. They're afraid of people who have committed a crime. They don't want anything to do with people who have made big mistakes, even if they made them when they were young and didn't know better.

Caelin
So what will you do?

Libertine
I'll have to try harder and never give up until I find an employer who is willing to give me another chance. And then I'll have to bust my bu . . . my behind? Uh, work very very hard to be the best worker at the company. I'll have to be twice as good as the others to get an even chance. I really made it hard for myself by getting into trouble with the law.

Barnes
Would you be a parent so young if you could live your life over?

Libertine
No. I sure wouldn't. I love my kid, but I haven't been a good parent to him. If I had waited until I was out of school and had a good job . . . and if I had been careful to choose a partner who would stick with me and be good to our kids . . . well, I did just about everything wrong . . . it was so easy to just let things happen. It would be very hard to make deliberate choices and take control of my life when all the other kids were putting pressure on me to just go along and be a fun kid like them. But that's what I would do if I could have another chance. And that's what I want my kid to do.

Caelin
I don't know. I think it would be neat to just watch TV and not have to do homework or clean up my room. And make the jailers bring me my food and take care of me and I wouldn't have to try to find a job or work hard to keep it.

Libertine
Don't be a . . . gobble-gobble . . . fool, kid! You can get up in the morning and choose what you want to wear. You can have all the good-tasting food you want to eat, if you learn how to cook it and get a good job to pay the grocery bill.

You can shut the door of the bathroom when you use the toilet or take a shower and not have a guard watching you. You can go outdoors in the sunshine and take a walk where there are trees and flowers.

You can't imagine the feeling of going through heavy, iron doors that open and close when someone in a remote room pushes a button, that make a horrifying clanging noise when they shut behind you, that you can't open yourself no matter how MUCH you want to. And walking down long concrete corridors that echo.

And being locked in a "tank" with people you don't like who are touchy and sometimes mean and sometimes dangerous. And to know that to them, you are the same. Of course, I do have a couple of friends in my tank, people I like. But I don't want to be with them when I get out because they think that spending half their lives in jail and half out is normal, so they don't plan to change how they live at all.

Barnes
Thanks, (Ms./Mr.) Libertine, for sharing with us today. Good luck in getting your life turned around.

All the children say goodbye as Libertine stands and goes to the door. The guard stands and escorts Libertine out. The teacher and children stand and bow to each other, clapping for each other. The guard and Libertine re-enter for their curtain call and the others clap for them as they bow. Everyone makes a circle and bows toward the center.