September 19, 2026 · daily scene
The Callback
Given circumstances
- Character
- Intern
- Setting
- A hospital records room, filing cabinets floor to ceiling, one overhead light.
- The moment before
- They asked if you filed the imaging request for the patient in 12. You didn't. You forgot.
- Scene partner
- The attending physician, standing in the doorway with a patient chart
Direction
Don't apologize more than once. The mistake is already made—the scene is about whether you collapse or hold your ground. The turn is when you stop defending and start fixing.
Script
I know. I'm sorry. I wrote it down and I got pulled to intake and it—
(beat)
No. No, that's not an excuse. You're right.
(listening)
I can call radiology right now. They're open until six, I can get it scheduled for tonight and flag it urgent so it's read by morning.
It won't happen again. Not this. I'll stay late, I'll double-check every order before I leave, but I need you to let me fix this one.
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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