SCRIPT

Something interesting happened today. After having a not so great day, I found myself driving to dinner in Korea town wishing it weren’t written in the script and wondering why I ever thought it was a good idea to turn my life into a 24/7 art project. However, the script read ‘LAUREN meets others for dinner. She is extremely positive all during dinner.’ So after a good cry, I dried my eyes, turned on the smiles, and got out of the car. At first it felt stupid, laughing cheerfully at things that didn’t seem funny, agreeing enthusiastically with things people said that felt miles from where my head was at, smiling happily at the boiling pot of meat in front of me while I thought about the fact that my stomach hurt and I’m a vegetarian.

As the evening progressed, however, everything shifted. The gap between my performance and actual state of mind began to close, and I started to feel a lot better. The conversations I was having stopped feeling fake and started getting interesting. Did I really do an emotional 180 just because of a few words on a computer screen? Is it possible that level of control could exist all the time?

[Setting: bedroom, 6am. LAUREN wakes up then decides to try and go back to sleep for at least another hour.]

[Awake, Lauren contemplates herself in her mirror. She scrawls "you are a recursive canvas" in lipstick across her reflected body. She fills her reflected eyes with lipstick. She traces. She picks up the phone.]

LAUREN: [On the phone] Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad. I wanted to talk to you about something. I’m working on a project right now and I really want you to be a part of it. Are you near a computer?

LAUREN: Can you open the link I just emailed you?

LAUREN: [Waits while they navigate to the link. It takes them a while...] So do you see in the script the part where we are talking? Scroll down. Now it’s your part.

MOM: What?

LAUREN: Read the line, Mom.

MOM: This is weird. I don’t understand.

LAUREN: Yes, but everything is weird. ..and you know I am weird. Remember the nut-not?

DAD: But what is this Lor?

[LAUREN explains project further and answers their questions.]

LAUREN: So will you help me with this? I really need it. I’m not so sure what is going on here. Jack has agreed to help too. I wonder what we might learn about each other if we all do this.

LAUREN:[Hangs up the phone and begins furiously writing the words: "The pomegranate Holds no greater mystery Than a woman holds The seed and vessel Poisoned by the pill And too much Gin"

[She does not know why she wrote them or where they came from, so she Googles them...]

[LAUREN, deciding to catch up with old friends, calls a friend from high school to chat.]

[LAUREN also decides that since now her life is an art project, there's no need or reason to go to school to work on it, so decides to not step into the grad lab today.]

[Instead, LAUREN spends the afternoon introspectively. "What makes art?", she wonders, while examining Chris Kelty's outlawbio symposium workshop for signs of hope.]

[Setting: Anywhere except grad studio. mid-afternoon. LAUREN works on remaking the website for JACK's soccer team at the University of Minnesota.]

[The phone rings. LAUREN picks up.]

JEFF: Hi there.

[LAUREN smiles. She hadn't been sure whether he'd call and she was worried about the integrity of her piece.]

JEFF: Are you busy? I wanted to read you something I thought you might like.

[JEFF reads her something interesting and unexpected. LAUREN enjoys hearing the sound of his voice. She listens with her eyes closed so she can imagine he is in the room with her. Also so that she doesn't get distracted from listening by her computer.]

JEFF: That’s all. What did you think?

LAUREN: It was nice. I liked it.

[Setting: Koreatown restaurant. LAUREN meets others for dinner. She is extremely positive all during dinner.]