All Lines, No Map

All Lines, No Map

Act One

Avery: Page one. Who starts?

Mara: You do.

Avery: It does not say that.

Mara: It does not say anything. That is the point.

Gus: Stick to the script.

Priya: The script is six names and a bunch of lines. There is no sticking. There is sliding.

Leo: Sliding is dangerous. That is how you end up improvising.

Tessa: Improvising is forbidden.

Avery: Forbidden, by who?

Tessa: By the absence. The silence where the directions should be.

Mara: That sounds like philosophy.

Gus: It is also obedience.

Priya: Which is also annoying.

Avery: Then what are we doing right now?

Gus: Sticking to the spirit of sticking to the script.

Priya: That is a lot of sticking. We will be glued to the floor by the intermission.

Leo: Do we even get an intermission?

Avery: It says nothing about exits.

Mara: So we are trapped.

Gus: Do not panic. Stick to the script.

Priya: I need you to stop saying that.

Leo: He is not wrong. If we start filling in blanks, we will never stop. First, it is a chair. Then it is a chariot. Then, suddenly, we are in Julius Caesar.

Tessa: At least Shakespeare gave stage directions.

Avery: That is the test. No stage directions. No safety net.

Mara: I do not need a net. I just want to know if I am supposed to sit.

Gus: Stick to the script.

Priya: Say that again, and I will write a stage direction that says Gus is eaten by the spotlight.

Leo: Et Tu Priya? That is not in the script.

Priya: It could be. We will say it is.

Tessa: Cheating.

Avery: Maybe cheating is the honest way to do this.

Mara: Now you sound like my therapist.

Gus: Focus. The playwright gave us words. That is enough.

Priya: The words do not tell us how.

Leo: Maybe the how is up to us.

Tessa: That feels reckless.

Avery: Or liberating.

Mara: Or both.

Gus: No. We are not liberated. We are disciplined. Stick to the script.

Priya: If discipline was the point, why delete the directions?

Leo: Maybe they trusted us.

Tessa: Or wanted to watch us collapse.

Avery: Same thing, really.

Mara: Page one. Avery, read the first line.

Avery: Hello. I am not sure if I am late.

Gus: Good. Clean.

Priya: You are on time, because time is a circle when no one draws lines.

Leo: That is not comforting.

Tessa: It is not supposed to be.

Mara: I like it. It means we are all equally lost.

Avery: Finally, something familiar.

Gus: Do not get clever. Stick to the script.

Priya: Stop. Saying. That.

Leo: I think the script wants us to fight about this.

Tessa: Then we are doing great.

Mara: So, Act One is us panicking about whether we are doing Act One.

Avery: Exactly. Which means we nailed it.

Gus: Fine. But only because we stuck to the script.

Priya: We are sliding on it, not sticking to it.

Leo: Call it gliding.

Tessa: Call it trying.

Avery: I call it begging for a chair.

Mara: The chairs are implied.

Gus: Implied chairs are still chairs.

Priya: Are implied bows still bows?

Leo: Ask me after we survive page two.

Tessa: If page two ever arrives.

Avery: It arrives when we say it arrives.

Mara: That sounds like a cue.

Gus: Cues are directions.

Priya: Then let it be a promise.

Leo: Or a confession.

Tessa: Or a dare.

Avery: Fine. I dare us to keep going.

Act Two

Avery: Page two. Who starts.

Mara: Still you.

Avery: The script does not say that.

Gus: The script only includes the lines. Stick to the script.

Priya: If I hear that again, I am throwing the script out the window.

Leo: There are no windows.

Tessa: Not true. I can say there is a window and then there is.

Avery: That feels like cheating.

Mara: It feels like theater.

Gus: Theater has stage directions. Which we do not have. Which is why we stick to the script.

Priya: Gus, I swear.

Leo: Wait. Did anyone else hear that?

Tessa: Hear what?

Leo: I thought I heard the line. Dramatic pause.

Avery: That is not in here.

Mara: He invented a stage direction.

Gus: Treason.

Priya: Relax. It was a good pause.

Leo: Thank you. Sometimes silence says more than words.

Gus: Silence is not in the script.

Tessa: Maybe it should be.

Avery: Maybe the script trusts us to fill the blanks.

Mara: Or trusts us to fail in the blanks.

Priya: Then let us fail interestingly.

Leo: Yes. Failing loudly.

Gus: Quiet failing would be better. Maybe no one notices.

Tessa: They always notice.

Avery: New rule. If the script does not tell us what to do, we confess instead.

Mara: Confess what?

Avery: Anything. I confess I do not know if this line is mine or yours.

Priya: I confess my voice sounds like a clarinet.

Leo: I confess I am jealous of clarinets. They always know the note.

Tessa: I confess I am pretending my chair is real.

Gus: I confess I am uncomfortable with this game.

Mara: Then it is working.

Priya: See. We turned nothing into something.

Leo: It almost sounded like a scene.

Tessa: Almost.

Avery: Maybe almost is the point.

Mara: Almost is more interesting than perfect.

Gus: Perfect is applause.

Priya: Perfect is boring.

Leo: Perfect belongs to another play. A death of a Roman Emporer in 44 BC.

Tessa: We are not doing another play.

Avery: We are doing this. Whatever this is.

Mara: A play with no map.

Priya: And no exits.

Leo: And no chairs.

Tessa: And no mercy.

Priya: And no drama.

Avery: So what do we have?

Mara: Just the words.

Gus: Just the script.

Priya: Just each other.

Leo: Maybe that is enough.

Tessa: Enough for what?

Avery: Enough for Act Three.

Mara: Not yet. We need one more fight about the rules so the payoff means something.

Gus: Good. I would like to submit a rule. When in doubt, ask for a line.

Priya: Asking for a line is not in the script.

Gus: It is now. Line.

Leo: You cannot call line if no one forgot it.

Tessa: He forgot confidence.

Avery: We all forgot confidence.

Mara: Then let us remember each other instead.

Priya: That sounds like a card someone would keep in their pocket.

Leo: I would frame it.

Tessa: I would underline it with my eyes.

Gus: Eyes are not props.

Priya: Everything is a prop if you treat it with respect.

Avery: Even fear.

Mara: Especially fear.

Leo: I still want a window.

Tessa: Here you go. I am opening it now.

Gus: Stop inventing things.

Priya: Let him have a window.

Leo: Thank you. I can see the possibility from here.

Avery: Possibility is rehearsing.

Mara: It looks very sure of itself.

Gus: That is because it has stage directions.

Priya: Also costumes.

Tessa: Also betrayal on page whatever.

Leo: We only have each other on page whatever.

Avery: Then that is what we will use.

Mara: Try a pledge.

Gus: I pledge to stop saying stick to the script.

Priya: I pledge to stop threatening spotlights.

Leo: I pledge to notice the people next to me.

Tessa: I pledge to trust the words even when they feel small.

Avery: I pledge to ask for help out loud.

Mara: I pledge to answer when someone asks.

Gus: I already miss my phrase.

Priya: You can keep it. Use it when it means care and not control.

Leo: Yes. Stick to the script and let the script be us.

Tessa: That sounds like a direction.

Avery: It sounds like a choice.

Mara: It sounds like the start of Act Three.

Act Three

Avery: I do not know what I am doing.

Mara: Same. I have been bluffing since page one.

Gus: I thought that was the job. Bluff until applause.

Priya: Applause for what?

Leo: For pretending we know where to stand.

Tessa: Or for standing anyway.

Avery: I keep hearing the line in my head. Stick to the script.

Mara: What if sticking to the script means admitting the script cannot hold us?

Gus: That sounds like improvising.

Priya: No. It is cooperating. There is a difference.

Leo: Cooperation feels dangerous.

Tessa: Or like trust.

Avery: I will go first. I am afraid I am boring.

Mara: I am afraid I am too loud.

Gus: I am afraid my hands look unemployed.

Priya: I am afraid I am the only one who does not belong here.

Leo: I am afraid I only belong here.

Tessa: I am afraid if I stop talking, I will disappear.

Avery: Then do not stop.

Mara: We will not let you disappear.

Gus: Your hands have a role.

Priya: Your silence has a role.

Leo: Especially your silence.

Tessa: Then maybe we can turn all these fears into one thing.

Avery: Into us.

Mara: Not separate.

Gus: Not lost.

Priya: Not directed.

Leo: Together.

Tessa: Together.

All: Together.

Avery: Even if it is messy.

Mara: Especially if it is messy.

Gus: The script cannot tell us how to care.

Priya: But we can.

Leo: So we will.

Tessa: Right now.

Avery: I choose to breathe.

Mara: I choose to listen.

Gus: I choose to let the line land before I grab it.

Priya: I choose to answer the line instead of fixing it.

Leo: I choose to notice the person who needs space.

Tessa: I choose to take only the space I need.

Avery: I choose to say yes and mean it.

Mara: I choose to say no when yes would be a lie.

Gus: I choose to share the laugh.

Priya: I choose to share the quiet.

Leo: I choose to call this a scene.

Tessa: I choose to believe it is enough.

All: We are enough.

(beat of silence)

You: I did not get it.

Director: Same. Next time, I might go back to Julius Caesar in the park.