Drama · 3 min
Glass Office.
A court-ordered therapy session turns into a brutal intelligence test between a gifted young mechanic and the psychologist who refuses to flinch.
The roles
NATE COSTAS
Early 20s. Auto body mechanic with a sealed juvenile record and a genius-level IQ he uses like a crowbar. Court-ordered into therapy. Walks in ready to destroy the session.
DR. FRANK MOYA
Mid-50s. Community health center psychologist who used to teach at a university. Wife died two years ago. Still has her photo on his desk. Quiet, unhurried, harder to rattle than he looks.
Glass Office · Drama side · memorlined.app
(A small office in a community health center. Drop ceiling, one window, venetian blinds half-closed. A space heater clicks in the corner. DR. FRANK MOYA sits in one of two chairs, a manila folder on his lap. The other chair has been pulled to the far wall. NATE COSTAS sits in it, legs wide, jacket still on.)
DR. FRANK MOYA
So. Tuesday afternoons.
NATE COSTAS
I guess.
DR. FRANK MOYA
You prefer a different day?
NATE COSTAS
I prefer not being here.
(The space heater clicks off. Clicks back on.)
DR. FRANK MOYA
That's the heater. It does that.
NATE COSTAS
Yeah, I can hear it.
DR. FRANK MOYA
Your file says you were referred by Judge Adler's office.
NATE COSTAS
My file says a lot of things.
DR. FRANK MOYA
It does. You want to know what else it says?
NATE COSTAS
Not really.
(FRANK sets the folder on the desk without opening it.)
DR. FRANK MOYA
Okay. We don't have to start there.
NATE COSTAS
We don't have to start anywhere.
(FRANK picks up his coffee. Takes a sip. It's cold. He sets it back down.)
DR. FRANK MOYA
So what do you do? For work.
NATE COSTAS
I fix cars.
DR. FRANK MOYA
At a shop or—
NATE COSTAS
Yeah, at a shop. Russo's, on Meridian. You need your oil changed?
DR. FRANK MOYA
I'm good, thanks.
NATE COSTAS
What do you drive?
DR. FRANK MOYA
A Camry. Why?
NATE COSTAS
Just wondering what kind of car a guy at a community health center drives. Camry sounds right.
(FRANK almost smiles. Doesn't.)
DR. FRANK MOYA
You read a lot?
(shifts in the chair)
NATE COSTAS
What makes you say that?
DR. FRANK MOYA
The folder. Judge's office mentioned it.
NATE COSTAS
I read some.
DR. FRANK MOYA
What are you reading right now?
NATE COSTAS
Why?
DR. FRANK MOYA
I'm making conversation. That's sort of the format.
NATE COSTAS
The format. Right.
(NATE looks around the room. His eyes land on the bookshelf behind Frank. Then on the framed photo next to the window — a woman on a beach, laughing.)
NATE COSTAS
Who's that?
(FRANK doesn't turn around.)
DR. FRANK MOYA
My wife.
NATE COSTAS
She ever come to the office?
DR. FRANK MOYA
No.
NATE COSTAS
She a patient person? Because this has got to be boring, right? Sitting here all day listening to—
DR. FRANK MOYA
She passed away. Two years ago.
(Beat.)
NATE COSTAS
Oh.
(The heater clicks. Neither of them moves.)
NATE COSTAS
Sorry.
DR. FRANK MOYA
Thank you.
NATE COSTAS
I didn't—
DR. FRANK MOYA
It's fine.
(NATE picks at a thread on his jacket sleeve.)
NATE COSTAS
Cancer?
DR. FRANK MOYA
Nate.
NATE COSTAS
I'm just asking.
DR. FRANK MOYA
You're testing me.
NATE COSTAS
Maybe. Is that in the file too?
DR. FRANK MOYA
The file says you went through four counselors in three months. I'm guessing this is about where things went sideways with them.
(leaning forward)
NATE COSTAS
You want to know what I said to the last one?
DR. FRANK MOYA
Not particularly.
NATE COSTAS
I told him I could see the vein in his forehead and that his breathing changed every time I mentioned—
DR. FRANK MOYA
Yeah, I don't need the greatest hits.
(He checks his watch.)
DR. FRANK MOYA
We've got twenty minutes left. You want to sit here or you want to leave? Both are fine.
NATE COSTAS
You'd just let me leave?
DR. FRANK MOYA
It's your hour.
NATE COSTAS
That's a move, right? The "I don't care if you stay" thing.
DR. FRANK MOYA
It's not a move. I've got paperwork either way.
(NATE stares at him. Then looks back at the photo.)
NATE COSTAS
How long were you married?
DR. FRANK MOYA
We're not doing that.
NATE COSTAS
Come on. You asked about my job, I'm asking about—
DR. FRANK MOYA
My job is to sit here. Yours is to decide what to do with the time. That's it.
(NATE stands. Goes to the bookshelf. Pulls out a book, reads the spine, puts it back.)
NATE COSTAS
You've got three copies of the same grief workbook up here.
(FRANK says nothing.)
NATE COSTAS
Two of them still have the shrink-wrap on.
(FRANK says nothing.)
NATE COSTAS
That mean you bought them and didn't use them, or you used one and kept buying more thinking you'd—
DR. FRANK MOYA
Tuesday. Same time. You know where the door is.
(NATE holds for a moment. Then puts his jacket hood up.)
NATE COSTAS
Your heater's making a knocking sound. Means the blower motor bearing's going. It'll die in about a month.
(He leaves. FRANK sits. The heater clicks.)
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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