The Character's Inner Life

I witnessed something that took me aback at Wednesday night's rehearsal of "Mary Worth Is A Whore".

The actress Anne McEvoy revealed to me the inner life a character I'd written without saying a word.

The play was an exercise to see if I could write something that sets a comedic tone and then shifts: a secret is revealed, the secret is not what you think it's going to be and the audience is (hopefully) left with a sense of the bittersweet.

The scene is a twenty year high school reunion. We think the play is about three old high school buddies: Phil, Helene and Tibby. The fourth character in the mix is Miss Applewood, their former guidance counselor and teacher. Miss Applewood and Tibby share a secret which they've never discussed. At the end of the play, they are given a moment alone together and - in a roundabout way, since it is a rare thing for people to be completely direct with each other - share what that secret meant to each of them.

Here's what it says in my script:

TIBBY

(Now HE looks at her and says intently:) I'd always hoped...that the two of you...would have gotten together somehow. Been happy.

SHE is surprised by his hope and looks at him. SHE almost says something else, but decides against it, and instead says:

MISS APPLEWOOD

(Sweetly, but not dismissive) No use talking about what wasn't to be.

Here's what happened at rehearsal:

Tibby (John Busser) said his line and Miss Applewood (Anne) looked away and smiled. From her facial expression it was clear to me that she was thinking about what her life would have been like if things had turned out differently: an imagined memory. Then, her face crumpled and fell in on itself. The great disappointment and pain of her life returned. But since she must keep up a front, she pastes a different smile on her face and returns to the social order of obscuring her feelings. She turns back to Tibby and says her next line.

The exactness and depth of the character's inner life brought into focus in just a few seconds.

Can't wait to see the show tonight, hear the audience reaction and be a fly on the wall listening to what people say afterwards.

Kudos to the cast and Jenna the Magnificent.