Drama · 5 min
Again.
In a simulation lab full of silent witnesses, a feared surgeon turns one resident's mistake into a ritual humiliation disguised as teaching.
The roles
VICTOR LESH
Early 50s. Chief of trauma surgery at a teaching hospital. Thirty years of operating rooms. Speaks less when he's most dangerous. The residents who survive his rotation become the best surgeons in the state. He does not care about the ones who don't.
DEX OKAFOR
26. Second-year surgical resident. Smart enough to be on Victor's rotation. Terrified enough to stay. Practices anatomy diagrams in his car before rounds.
Again · Drama side · memorlined.app
(A teaching hospital simulation lab. Late afternoon. Fluorescent lights, one flickering. Six second-year residents stand around a cadaver table. VICTOR LESH is at the far sink, washing his hands. His back is to the room. DEX OKAFOR holds a retractor over the open cavity. Nobody speaks.)
(still at the sink)
VICTOR LESH
What layer.
DEX OKAFOR
Subcutaneous.
VICTOR LESH
Say it again.
DEX OKAFOR
Sub— the subcutaneous.
VICTOR LESH
Point to it.
(DEX points into the cavity. His hand shakes.)
VICTOR LESH
You're pointing at fascia.
DEX OKAFOR
I—
VICTOR LESH
Fascia or subcutaneous. Which one.
DEX OKAFOR
Fascia.
(VICTOR turns the water off. Doesn't dry his hands. Walks to the table.)
VICTOR LESH
So when I asked what layer, and you said subcutaneous, you were off by one.
DEX OKAFOR
Yes.
VICTOR LESH
One layer. That's an artery. That's a bleed-out on the table.
(He picks up the retractor from DEX's hand. Sets it on the tray. The metal clinks.)
VICTOR LESH
How long have you been on this rotation.
DEX OKAFOR
Four weeks.
VICTOR LESH
Four weeks. Can't tell fascia from subcutaneous in an open cavity.
(The fluorescent light flickers. Buzzes. Settles.)
DEX OKAFOR
I can. I just—
VICTOR LESH
You just what.
(Silence.)
DEX OKAFOR
I blanked.
VICTOR LESH
You blanked.
(VICTOR looks at the other residents. None of them move.)
VICTOR LESH
Dex blanked. Everybody get that? Next time a patient codes on the table, we'll let them know Dr. Okafor needed a minute.
DEX OKAFOR
That's not—
VICTOR LESH
Not what.
DEX OKAFOR
Nothing.
VICTOR LESH
Smart.
(He walks to the instrument tray. Picks up a ten blade. Holds it by the handle.)
VICTOR LESH
What's under the fascia.
DEX OKAFOR
Muscle.
VICTOR LESH
Which muscle.
DEX OKAFOR
External oblique.
VICTOR LESH
You guessed.
DEX OKAFOR
It's the external oblique.
VICTOR LESH
It is. But you guessed.
(Someone's phone vibrates in the room. Nobody checks it.)
VICTOR LESH
You know how I can tell? Your voice goes up half a step when you're not sure. That's not a quiz show tell. That's a liability. You do that in an OR, the anesthesiologist hears it. The scrub nurse hears it. The whole room knows.
(He holds the ten blade out to DEX.)
VICTOR LESH
Take it.
(DEX takes it.)
VICTOR LESH
Make the incision at the mark.
DEX OKAFOR
Here?
VICTOR LESH
Is there another mark.
(DEX positions the blade. His hand is steady now.)
VICTOR LESH
Stop.
(DEX stops.)
VICTOR LESH
What are you cutting into.
DEX OKAFOR
The fascia.
VICTOR LESH
Through what.
DEX OKAFOR
The— through the adipose, into the fascia.
VICTOR LESH
Good. Now put the blade down.
(DEX puts it on the tray.)
VICTOR LESH
You had it right that time. You know why? Because I just walked you through it like a first-year. That's where you are. Four weeks into my rotation and I'm teaching you anatomy.
(The air conditioning kicks on. Papers flutter on a clipboard.)
VICTOR LESH
Give me your badge.
DEX OKAFOR
What?
VICTOR LESH
Badge. Off. Hand it here.
(DEX unclips his ID badge. Hands it over.)
VICTOR LESH
You get this back when you can name every layer, point to each one, and do it without me holding your hand. Tomorrow. Five a.m.
DEX OKAFOR
Five in the morning?
VICTOR LESH
Is that a problem.
DEX OKAFOR
No.
(VICTOR puts the badge in his coat pocket. Turns to the table.)
VICTOR LESH
Ramirez, you're on retractor. From the top.
Print it for class, or open it in the app: every role in this side is playable, and the other side of the scene gets a reader. Cast a voice against your part in the Audition Room, then run it until the lines are yours.
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