September 16, 2026 · daily scene
The Substitution
Given circumstances
- Character
- Rehearsal Pianist
- Setting
- Empty rehearsal studio, piano lid still open, your coat already on
- The moment before
- They asked you to stay late tomorrow. You said you'd have to check. They said the last pianist never had to check.
- Scene partner
- The choreographer, blocking the door with one hand on the frame
Direction
You've had this conversation in your head for months. Don't play anger—play the exhaustion of not having said this sooner.
Script
The last pianist was twenty-two and didn't have a daughter who gets out of school at three.
(beat)
I'm not being difficult. I'm telling you what my availability is. That's not the same thing.
(listening)
No, I do want to be here. But wanting to be here doesn't mean I can run my entire life around a rehearsal schedule that changes every six hours.
(they cut you off)
Then find someone who can. Because I'm not going to apologize anymore for having a life outside this room.
Written for Act It Up. Free to rehearse and perform for practice, classes and self-tapes.
Record this scene with a teleprompter and a scene partner who reads the other lines.
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