Monologue

go for it. I live in millions of other hosts. The hosts do my work for me. Sharing from person to person, until nobody’s safe anymore! So, try as you might, you won’t succeed. I’m far ahead of you.” (loud evil cackle)

“Mutiny means rebellion, and in my story, coronavirus is a feared army that comes and destroys the immune system,” Gekonge continued. “But the antibodies come to fight down the insurgence of the virus.”

Her monologue’s ending — the virus’s brazen, then quickly diffident summation — bodes well for success by those antibodies:

“I am novel coronavirus. I won’t be defeated. (sudden nervous look)…Right?”

“You spit and call me names, but you’re forgetting that I have taken countless hosts. That I cloned myself until I couldn’t anymore. I’m the biggest army you have seen in years.”

— Mutiny

Gekonge’s powerful personification of the virus and the fearsome havoc it’s wreaked are even more impressive given her compressed deadline.

“It was my first time writing (a monologue), and I just had to try my best and throw it together within four days — all the days I had,” she says. “I just wanted to try my best, and I definitely didn’t expect the results that came out of it.”

Philadelphia Young Playwrights has been collaborating with area educators “to bring the transformative power of playwriting into classrooms and community settings” since 1987. The organization’s yearly Mouthful Digital Monologue Festival partners its winners with pros like Kuerzi, dramaturg Byshera Williams and director MR Stine to help shape their work.

Watching and listening as Kuerzi delivered “Mutiny” for the first time?

A definite thrill for its young author.

“It was so cool to hear it read by a professional actor,” she said. “I got to see my own writing come to life, and it made me really happy. Jenna Kuerzi, Byshera Williams and MR Stine all did a great job, and it came out just how I’d imagined it to.”

Not surprisingly, Gekonge’s grandparents are among her biggest fans.

“They were so happy,” she said. “Both of them loved the monologue, and they were so proud.”

That said, Gekonge isn’t resting on her laurels.

“I’ve been working on a few short stories and trying to write a book like I’ve always wanted to ... I love writing, because it helps me express my ideas and creativity. It’s really fun to me.”

Additional information, including access to Gekonge’s “Mutiny,” is available at www.phillyyoungplaywrights.org.