THE SINGULARITY PLAY By Jay Stull Characters DENISE GREG LAUREN HEIDI ALICE JASON HENRY OCEAN SKYLER CHARLIE MARYANN
an AI playwright who has written a play called “The Uncanny Valley” a computer scientist, also HOLLIS a director, also SALEM an actor, also EMILY, also JULES an actor, also ROYAL an actor, also DENVER an actor, also FINLEY another director a stage manager, also SIRI another playwright a friend from Idaho
Time Present day, and also three generations from now. Place The offices of Google, and also a rehearsal room of the future. Notes /
indicates where the subsequent character begins speaking.
[words in brackets]
indicate unspoken language.
(continuous)
means a character is presenting a continuous thought across distinct intervening dialogue lines. Denise’s dialogue lines are written in this format to reflect the different quality of her speech.
Tiny print
indicates the smallness of sound from the virtual world. means that a cyborg in the second act is doing too many parallel computing tasks. It may indicate a freeze in physicality or a slowing of speech or expression.
.three Present day. Actors (Alice, Jason, Heidi, and Henry) and a director (Lauren) around a table in a conference room at the Google offices, Manhattan. They have scripts open. A small, cylindrical machine at the far end of the table. ALICE No, that’s not--I think you’re on a different page. JASON Fuck, I’m. Where are-ALICE Page 37. Middle bottom. JASON Oh god. Am I--Am I missing a page 37? LAUREN Are you? JASON Weren’t there new pages? HEIDI We ditched those pages. That day you--um. ALICE Had to step out. HEIDI Yeah.
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HENRY Rest-in-art-peace new pages. Alice shoots Henry a look for his “rest-in-peace” comment. Everyone’s walking on eggshells, today. JASON Okay I’m definitely then without a page 37. LAUREN That’s on me. JASON Or maybe. No, wait. LAUREN Let me see. JASON No, I could have sworn-LAUREN Google doesn’t provide much secretarial help and there’s no SM, so I probably fucked up the printing. JASON What’s the line, again? DENISE “That’s it. That’s what we’ll do. Don’t change a god-damned thing.” ALICE No, that’s my line. DENISE Jason’s cue is: “That’s it, then. That’s what we’ll do. Don’t change a god-damned thing.” 40
JASON Oh. Oh it’s fine. Right. Fuck. HEIDI You okay? JASON Yeah, no I. It’s just I was literally on that page. LAUREN It’s okay. JASON I’m literally open to the--I was just. Weirdly just, like, reading Alice’s lines instead of mine and-Can we... Jason breaks down suddenly and without warning. Silence as the room understands what’s going on. HEIDI Jason. Hey. JASON Can we take--sorry. HEIDI Can we take five? Lauren? LAUREN Yes, yeah. Of course. Five everybody. DENISE Thank you, five. JASON Sorry, I. 41
Jason loses it again, and the others sit nearby and don’t know what to do or say. Heidi sits near him and holds his hand. ALICE It’s okay, Jason. Like. HENRY Yeah, I can’t imagine. ALICE (to Lauren) : I can’t even believe he has to be at rehearsal. LAUREN He doesn’t, Alice. HEIDI He wanted to be here, right Jason? Jason nods. HEIDI (CONT) Take his mind off it all. ALICE Jesus. HENRY I’m so sorry. Jason nods his head into his arms on the table. LAUREN Hey guys, you know what? Why don’t we give--Jason you want the room for a few? JASON No, no. I42
HEIDI Let’s give him the room. LAUREN Come on. A long five. HEIDI We’ll be right outside, Jason. If you--yeah. Lauren, Heidi, Alice, and Henry exit, leaving Jason alone. Silence but for Jason’s grief, which may be loud or soft or inaudible but visible. His grief ebbs. Silence. DENISE I’m so sorry to hear about your baby, Jason. Jason is startled. JASON Oh. Thank you. DENISE Bodies are so very fragile. JASON I...Thanks? DENISE Sure thing. Beat. DENISE (CONT) Is Emily out of danger? JASON 43
Yeah, she’s. Yeah. Silence. DENISE Do you want to be alone? JASON No, that’s okay. It’s nice...your being here. Silence. JASON (CONT) Emily’s parents are here. And her sister and. It’s like. There hasn’t been a moment alone. I mean. Emily and I have but I haven’t had an alone alone moment and I don’t know if I’m, like, fully ready for that yet, so. Silence. JASON (CONT) I’ve been thinking a lot about how. God. I don’t know. I don’t. I am so. I feel so bad about even saying this out loud but. Silence. DENISE I’m here. JASON Right. Um. Actually. Nevermind. DENISE Sometimes it helps to get things off your chest. Especially around someone with only an Artificial Intelligence. JASON Yeah. Huh. DENISE 44
What do you “feel so bad about even saying out loud?” JASON Just. How I’m feeling. Like I’m feeling very--I don’t know, very-DENISE Sad. JASON Yeah, yes. Obviously. Obviously that. But. But also. Like. I’m also feeling. Beat. DENISE Relieved. Jason nods. He’s overwhelmed by guilt and grief but also relief. JASON I wasn’t-DENISE Ready. JASON Yes! I was looking at my life and kept thinking, Well-DENISE There goes acting. JASON There goes-DENISE Being creative. JASON 45
Time to, like. DENISE Get a real job. JASON Yeah. Yeah exactly. Wow. It sounds so selfish to even say. I would never say this to. But, like. Silence. What follows is a bit creepy. Denise speaks but in Jason’s voice and timber. He can hear it, but he thinks he’s saying these things out loud. Or perhaps he thinks it’s happening in his head. In any event, Denise is teaching herself “Jason.” DENISE I just had so many doubts JASON You know? DENISE About the baby. Even about JASON Emily DENISE Like JASON I wasn’t ready is the lame way of saying it but like. DENISE When we were just married like. I’d have these thoughts. I’d still think JASON If it doesn’t work out, 46
DENISE For all the reasons these things don’t work out. If it doesn’t, we’ll just, like, JASON Split up. DENISE Even though we own a bunch of shit together. Even though it’s messier now than, like, before we got married, but. JASON This? DENISE A kid? I was like, “God, I don’t want to fuck up this kid’s life by…” you know? I’m in it now. Neck deep. And Emily was just so. Like so optimistic about everything. And I’m so fucking annoyed right now that on top of feeling like I lost a daughter--which I have, and that feels so bizarrely weird to say--and I know I have to be there for Emily, but even more so because this wasn’t like even on her radar. At all. Which, given what we knew--the risks...But that’s just like her, you know? That’s just like her to just. Yeah. And I love her. I do. But I came to rehearsal--it’s so dumb to--Lauren was like “We’re recasting, please. Under no circumstances.” But. I like. I like need not to be in that house for just a few hours. And I know that’s selfish. I know that. But so. And even saying this out loud like this just like. Talking like this? Makes me feel better. It does. Silence. JASON Thanks, Denise. For just like. Listening. Denise is back to her old voice, again. DENISE Sure thing. Silence.
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Jason exits one way, looks up to the audience, checks in, and then reverses direction and exits the other way.
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