The Woman Under the Stage

Blood of my blood

be good enough for you, goddess.

And such sweet eyes as hers are burdened

with the bitterness of my misfortune.

Goddess of theater and wine,

may her blood run quick and cold to numb the pain

of my works.

And sin forth with no debt collector could ever seize.

That I take my own life to offer were it payment enough.

The bell

invites me.

Is this a dagger, which I see before me?

Whitney?

The handle towards my hand?

Whitney, come on open up.

Not funny anymore.

Baby?

Just talk to me, baby, all right?

Come, let me clutch thee.

Whitney could you just say something, please?

I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.

Whitney?

Baby could you just say something, please.

Thou art marshaled me the way that I was going

in such an instrument I was to use

to see bloody business, which informs us to mine eyes.

Open the fucking door.

Whitney!

Now, over the one half world, nature seems dead.

And wicked dreams abuse the curtains sleep.

You wanna talk to me?

Witchcraft celebrates pill

like it's offerings.

Wrap it up in chance baby.

And withered murder, alarmed by his sentinel the wolf

whose house his watch thus with his stealthy pace.

The talkings ravishing strides towards his design

moves like a ghost.

You are not my steps which way they walk

and take the present hall from the time,

which now suits with it.

Whilst I threat, he lives.

I go and it is done.

The bell invites me.

Here at not Duncan for it doesn't know

but summons thee to heaven going to hell.

Whitney, that new guy I was telling you about,

this shit's crazy.

He shows up.

First day, I try writing some of our basic stuff Python.

Guess what?

He doesn't know Python.

Oh, Python it's what we,

run basically everything on at work.

Oh.

Audition how was it?

It was okay, I guess.

I'm sure you did great, babe.

Yeah, I just hate not knowing.

What's up?

Nothing.

Edgar?

Is this a dagger,

which I see before me?

The handle towards my hand.

Come.

Let me clutch thee.

I have the nothing and yet I see these still.

But thou

fatal vision.

Sensible to feeling as to sight

or art thou.

Receiving from the heat oppressive brain.

Informed as capable as this,

which I now draw.

Hi. Whitney, right?

- Yeah. - Come in.

I'm Terrence Durand.

I'm the director of the play.

Nice to meet you Terrance.

It's Whitney Bennett. Is that right?

Yes.

And you live around here, Whitney?

I live off of Belmont and Turner.

That's a sketchy area.

Is that dangerous for a young girl like yourself?

We do our best.

I wanna ask you a question of a personal nature.

You don't have to answer it if you don't want to.

I've been asking all the actresses,

I'm auditioning for this role.

Do you have someone in your life?

Are you in a relationship?

I have a boyfriend.

And does he work in the theater?

Does he understand this world?

No. He works in software engineering.

But, you know, he tries

The reason I ask, and I'm sure the casting notice

was clear about this.

This is a highly secretive production.

The play's never been performed before.

Opening night's gonna be the first time

anyone in the world has ever seen it.

So there's a moratorium on talking about it.

What play is it?

Sort of an experiment, we're gonna be living here

for two months while we rehearse this play.

Day in and day out, living and breathing the material.

One big, happy, fucking twisted family.

That sounds nice.

It's a bit like group theater.

Yeah.

- You've heard of that before? - Yeah.

That doesn't bother you?

Nope.

That's good.

But something's bothering you.

You could speak freely, it's alright.

It's just I've never heard of you.

You've never heard of me?

Have you heard a lot of theater directors?

I'm familiar with a few. Yeah.

Well, full disclosure,

this is not my first creative endeavor,

but it is my first play to direct.

Okay.

You may be asking yourself,

"Well, you haven't paid any dues."

"How did you get this job?"

And that's a legitimate question.

It doesn't mean I'm the wrong man for the job though,

does it?

Of course not.

It means you and I are gonna have to ignore the naysayers,

this entire production will.

People who cry, "Nepotism."

Or in your case objectification.

- Objectification? - Yeah.

People will assume you've got the job

because you're beautiful.

Let me ask you a different question.

What sacrifices do you think main stage actors

and big roles like this

would make to give a great performance on stage?

What lengths do you think they should go to?

I'm not sure what you're meaning by that question.

What I mean is, most people say

they would run into a burning building to save a life,

and yet the building's on fire, nobody's running in.

Acting, as I understand, it takes an enormous toll

on the mind, body and spirit.

And in this production, in your role in particular,

I'm gonna push the boundaries

of what your mind, body, and spirit can take.

Are you listening?

Whatever actress I cast in this role

will run right into the burning building.

Is the material dark?

Yes.

The playwright killed himself

shortly after he finished writing it.

So yeah, it's a little bleak. Sure.

Is that a problem?

I think I'm your girl.

You think?

I'm your girl.

Good.

Let's try a scene.

Okay, so tell me again,

you're going to do what?

You're gonna live there now?

I don't know.

Nobody's actually ever seen the play before,

so I don't know what it's about.

- You don't know the play? - No.

So then like, how do you know, like,

do you think it'll be any good?

They're putting a lot of money into it.

So I guess.

I guess I just don't

see why you wanna do this.

What do you mean?

I just think things would be a lot better

for both of us if we lived together.

That has nothing to do with what we're

talking about right now. - Sure it does.

You're going to live in this theater

for two months.