THE INTERVIEWEE

A story inspired by my theatrical dance piece I performed at an equity waiver theatre in LA.

Walking into a vast office of plastic furniture and a soft pillowed sofa, Larkin shook at the knees as a voice pounded the words into her brain:
"Take a seat, please."
Her nervous jelly leg sunk into the plastisol as she sat down and looked at her watch. She grabbed a magazine to flip through. Without warning, the magazine smashed up against her face. She struggled but it took a few seconds to get free. She dropped the mag quickly on the coffee table, regained composure then moved to the sofa. She needed this job so badly that even the strange force in the room couldn't deter her. The voice bellowed even louder than before:
"Take a seat please."
Her body went limp as she fell forward like a rag doll then thrust forward like a spring board, face down on the sofa. She wrestled with the cushions for seconds then escaped the sofa's clutches. Is this really happening, she asked herself. Again, she wasn't about to leave. She needed this job desperately. She rummaged through her purse for her hairbrush. Messy hair would not do. As she began to brush her hair, the voice drifted in:
"Take a seat, please."
The brush grabbed her hair and pulled her off the sofa. She sparred with it for moments as she twirled around the room. Finally, it relinquished it's grasp. She crawled over to her purse and threw the brush inside. She slumped into the sofa as the overhead intercom said:
"Take a seat, please."
Suddenly, her body flew upward and landed on the arm of the sofa. She tittered there for 15 seconds then the voice repeated:
"Take a seat, please."
She popped off onto the floor, feet first as her skirt came over her head. She waddled blindly around the room as the voice said:
"Take a seat, please."
Her skirt released itself off her head. She knew no job was worth this so she grabbed her purse and rushed pass the next interviewee .... Ah, safety at last. In the distance she heard:
"Take a seat, please."
Within seconds, loud thumps followed. She thought, ah poor girl.. I hope she survives the interview.

Author's Note

This piece is definitely surreal. A visual story of movement, transferred into the written word. It's a simple interview that goes awry and turns into an unreal, farcical & fantastical event of this woman's bag of nerves and the rooms kinetic energy.