Kristen Field is a queer playwright who hails from Melbourne, Australia and studied Writing for the Screen and Stage at Northwestern University. She's worked with Chicago Dramatists, Facility Theatre, and Redtwist, and her play "Sway" was published by Concord Theatricals as part of a collection of shorts in Theatre Masters' Take Ten Vol. 3. She is currently pursuing her PhD and teaching at Western Michigan University, and her greatest joys come from spotting baby deer in nearby preserves and supporting new plays as the Drama Editor at Third Coast Magazine.

Career Move

CHARACTERS

ALICE, early thirties, an actress who knows she’s never going to quite break through in the way that she wants to. A little flippant. A little guarded and intense.

SARAH, mid-thirties. Alice’s girlfriend. Successful in her own field. Self-righteous to the extent that it could almost be cute. Proud.

SETTING

A tidy but warm home. Chaos reigns only when it’s taking over the lives of the inhabitants.

NOTE

A double dash (//) indicates where the next line should overlap with the one being spoken, allowing the characters to talk over each other. This is particularly important for the two (concurrent) rants on page six.

A kitchen. Kind of dark. A single light over the area where SARAH is cutting something on a chopping board - a pear? Something for dessert. But it’s a struggle - the way she wields the knife hints at the pain it causes her just to grip it. She stops after a moment, puts down the knife and does her best to sooth the ache in her hands. Closes her eyes.

Then more light. From a hallway? Outside the kitchen. The sound of a door closing. Then the sound of a switch flipping as the kitchen is fully illuminated and ALICE waltzes in. Kind of out of breath. But put together.

ALICE
Hey.

SARAH keeps chopping.

Dessert? Can I have some?

ALICE grabs a slice of pear. SARAH continues to slice the rest of it.

With her mouth full:

I love these parties, but there’s never anything to eat. Stupid industry trying to keep us as skeletal as possible.

SARAH
I think actors probably do enough on their own to ruin their eating habits. Without any help.

A beat. Still with her mouth full:

ALICE
Did something happen? With your mom? Did you get any -

SARAH
My mom’s fine. Or I haven’t heard anything anyway.

ALICE
Oh. Good.

SARAH
“No news is good news,” as they say.

ALICE
Right. We should call her tomorrow though. Maybe drive up to see her this weekend?

SARAH
You won’t have another shoot to go to? I’m sure they have another tight blue dress somewhere that you haven’t worn yet.

ALICE finally drops her bag. Takes her coat off. No longer chewing:

ALICE
Okay, seriously: what’s wrong? I know you hate talking about this stuff, but you know I love your family or if something happened at the office or if your joints are flaring up again -

SARAH
How many hoots did you get at the end of each take this time? Any hand-to-butt contact? I wouldn’t blame them for upping the ante.

ALICE
What?

SARAH
Or wait, did any of them ask you out at the wrap party? / That wouldn’t surprise me -

ALICE
Where is all of this coming from?

SARAH
Why do you like it so much?

ALICE
Like what?

SARAH
The objectification. The douches. The facileness.

ALICE takes a step closer. Starting to ready for battle.

ALICE
It’s my job.

SARAH
No - your job is embodying actual characters in actual stories. Not offering yourself up on a platter to sell cars.

ALICE
You have a better way for me to make money?

SARAH
But it’s not just about the money to you, is it?

ALICE
You think I get some sort of fulfilment out of sashaying in front of a camera and flipping my hair and smiling fifty-two times?

SARAH
Wow. Fifty-two takes. The crew must have really been enjoying themselves.

ALICE
Not everyone is an unprofessional ass, Sarah.

SARAH
But you like it. The attention.

ALICE
What do you want me to say?

SARAH
I don’t want you to say anything. I want you to stop selling yourself / to -

ALICE
Selling myself. Oh. My bad - I didn’t realise that was what I was doing. I thought I was doing a commercial so that I could embody those characters in actual stories for the next few months.

SARAH
Why don’t you shut it down? When they come on to you?

ALICE
When people talk to me on the street?

SARAH
You know what they’re doing.

ALICE
When they tell me they think I’m great? What do you want me to do - punch them?

SARAH
Stop being so oblivious.

ALICE
Stomp on their feet? Knee them in the groin?

SARAH
Sticking your head in the sand like a fucking ostrich.

ALICE
No, see - I know what’s going on. I know what I need to do to actually be a working actress.

SARAH
Ah, yes - a working girl. Putting your nose to the grindstone. Swinging those hips / from nine to five. Or until the director says cut.

ALICE
You want coffee? I want coffee.

ALICE goes to pick up the kettle and fill it with water.

SARAH
You’re better than this.

ALICE
Really? I thought I was exactly as good as a tight blue dress and four car commercials.

The tap goes off. And ALICE slams the kettle onto the stove. Turns the burner on.

SARAH
Coffee’s going to keep you up.

ALICE
Maybe I wanna stay up. Maybe I’m just starting my night / going to meet the hot grip from today for a couple of shots, maybe a quick fuck…

SARAH
How can you stand it???? How can you fucking stand them looking you up and down the guys who come up to you just to tell you how you turn them on in that fucking car commercial how they’d buy the car just to hear you say “the best deal around” in that motherfucking seductive purr I don’t even think the director told you to do I think that was your brilliant idea your own fucking invention and I don’t understand how you can play into it all like that how you can literally say oh you want me well that’s cool I’ll just give myself to you boobs and legs and butt and all and none of this is what you set out to do none of this is actually what you want to be doing with your life which is why I cannot fucking understand why you not only put up with it but relish in every fucking moment.

SARAH breathes. The kettle starts to whistle. A beat. They both let it screech, not moving.

After a moment: ALICE turns the stove off, gets out the coffee, spoons some into a French press, pours the water over it, lets it sit.

ALICE
Honestly, I think you’re the one who can’t stand it.

SARAH
Clearly.

ALICE
Are you that insecure? You really think I’m gonna jump the first guy who tells me I have a great ass?

SARAH
I think it’s a problem that you have no issue with the fact that people all over the country are turning you into a sex object and probably jacking off to you every night and thinking they have a right to you.

ALICE
Oh - I get it - you have all the rights to me.

SARAH
That’s not what I meant.

ALICE
“Property of Sarah Evans. Do not touch.”

As ALICE plunges the coffee - pretty aggressively:

SARAH
You’re cool with people touching you? Rubbing your shoulders in between takes, adjusting your dress so they can touch your boobs / and your thighs -

ALICE
I don’t let people touch me.

SARAH
You think they want your permission?

ALICE
I think you’re fucking scared of nothing.

SARAH
Oh, I’m scared. Okay. Got it - I’m the one who’s terrified when you can’t even tell people that you’re gay.

ALICE
People know.

SARAH
Your family knows. Your friends know. The rest of the world thinks you’re up for grabs.

As she retrieves a mug from a high shelf:

ALICE
And they deserve to know? Is that it?

SARAH
They don’t know I exist.

ALICE
So you just wanna be in the spotlight? / For a millisecond?

SARAH
They don’t know you exist because they don’t know who you are.

As ALICE slams a mug down on the counter:

ALICE
I don’t want them to know who I am.

SARAH
Ah. It comes out. // But you don’t.

ALICE
Why is it my responsibility to tell the whole fucking world about my life?

SARAH
You’re leading them on.

ALICE
You know what? I think you’re the one who thinks I’m an object who thinks I’m up for grabs // when no one’s made a go at me and still you think it’s up to you what I wear and how I act and what I do for work well I’m sorry your sad gay ass doesn’t know how to play the game but I’m doing what I need to do and if you think it’s some sort of slight against you for me to put on a fucking dress then I’ll just stay here in sweatpants and cook for you while you work and support your little wife waiting for you back at home here you want a cup of coffee? I’ll get you a fucking cup of coffee -

SARAH
Oh, I think you’re up for grabs? I’m not the one lying about my relationship status maybe you do want to be available for all these fans to go wild on you so directors can get a quick fuck before they give you a role I get it I mean it would make your life so much easier if you were free to get whatever you wanted as long as you offered everyone some ass well I’m not gonna stand in your way so you know you do what you need to do and I’ll just go live my lonely sad gay life with my ten cats and -

As she says, “I’ll get you a fucking cup of coffee,” ALICE reaches for another mug on the same high shelf and – as she grabs for it – knocks it over and it falls to the ground, shattering.

A beat.

SARAH
Why don’t you want people to know about me.

ALICE
Why don’t you trust me to fucking live my life without fucking every single person who thinks I’m attractive?

SARAH stares ALICE down. A challenge. And a plea.

ALICE bends down and starts to pick up the shattered pieces of the mug.

SARAH
It’s too much for you, isn’t it?

ALICE doesn’t look up.

Knowing I might not be able to walk properly in a few years. That my hands might start hurting so much that I won’t be able to do anything with them.

ALICE
You don’t know how I feel.

SARAH
I know you didn’t sign up to take care of a woman in her forties with joints so worn down she can’t even fuck you.

ALICE
We’re not there yet.

SARAH
But we will be.

A beat. ALICE still hasn’t looked up from the shards of china she’s carefully gathering into a pile.

I will be. You’re really trying to tell me you’re willing to stick around for that?

A beat. More softly:

I’m scared. You don’t have to be..

ALICE
But I am.

ALICE finally looks up at SARAH.

They do know I’m gay. Everyone who’s worked on the commercial. Same people all four times. We joke about it. How no one who sees the ad on television will know and all the men stuffing Cheetos in their mouths while they watch the game will fantasize about me and think they have a chance but they’ll have no idea I only have eyes for the ladies.

A beat. SARAH doesn’t say anything. ALICE looks back down at the floor.

I slept with a line producer after filming the second ad. And the third. She had another girl there with her today.

And she looks back up at SARAH. Cold.

You’re right. I didn’t sign up for everything that’s ahead. For you. And I don’t want to have to deal with it. I don’t want any part in that sadness. I don’t have to have any part in it.

A beat. SARAH breathes. Gathering her own pieces together.

SARAH
Even after staying with me for this long. You don’t think you owe me anything.

ALICE
You were still fully functional - still are, so…No one’s obligated to stay with someone they don’t want to be with.

SARAH
But you did want to be with me once.

ALICE
I think so. You can be attractive when you try. I just know you won’t be able to try anymore. In a decade. Or so. I hope you have some time. Find some other woman who finds you attractive for now.

SARAH exits. We hear her climb the stairs to the second floor. Slowly.

ALICE stays frozen for a moment, still kneeling on the floor, and then she keeps picking up the shards of china around her.

She cuts herself on one of them. Looks at the blood that starts to seep from the cut on her hand. Wipes it on her jeans.

Black.