Dark Comedy · 3 min
The Audition.
A polished tutor interview becomes a performance of class, charm, and mutual calculation inside a house designed to intimidate.
The roles
OMAR
Early 20s. A college student with a borrowed portfolio and credentials he didn't earn. Charming, prepared, and performing the best version of himself for an audience that wants to believe.
LARA
Mid-40s. A wealthy mother who loves her daughter and manages everything except the things that actually matter. Warm, talkative, and completely unaware she's watching a performance.
The Audition · Dark Comedy side · memorlined.app
(A living room in an expensive house. Floor-to-ceiling windows. A marble kitchen island with fresh flowers. Everything is clean in a way that suggests someone else cleans it. LARA is trimming stems with kitchen scissors. A doorbell.)
LARA
Come in. It's open.
(OMAR enters in a pressed button-down, carrying a leather portfolio that looks new. He stands near the door.)
OMAR
Mrs. Hewitt?
LARA
Lara. Please. Sit anywhere. Can I get you something? Water, coffee?
OMAR
Water is great. Thank you.
(She pours water from a glass pitcher. Ice clinks.)
LARA
So. Min-seo speaks very highly of you. She said you were the only reason she passed her lit seminar.
OMAR
Min-seo is generous. She did most of the work.
LARA
She never does the work. That's the whole problem.
(She sets the water in front of him and sits.)
LARA
Hazel is wonderful. I want to start there. She's creative, she tested into the advanced track two years ago. But she's fifteen and she's decided that effort is optional.
OMAR
What does Hazel think?
(LARA blinks.)
LARA
I'm not sure anyone's asked her that.
OMAR
That might be a good place to start. In my experience, students who've stalled usually respond well to—
LARA
See, that's exactly what I was hoping for. Someone who gets it.
(A dog barks from another room.)
OMAR
What subjects are you most concerned about?
LARA
English. She used to love reading. And now she reads her phone. She went through a mythology phase, then true crime, then a brief poetry thing that terrified her father.
OMAR
Poetry is a good sign.
LARA
Is it?
OMAR
It means she's interested in how language works. Not just what it says.
(LARA adjusts a flower in the arrangement that doesn't need adjusting.)
LARA
What's your availability? We were thinking Tuesdays and Thursdays, around four.
OMAR
I can do that.
LARA
Wonderful. Start next week?
OMAR
Next Tuesday.
(She stands. He stands.)
LARA
Min-seo mentioned your rate. It's fine. I'll have Graham set up the payments. He handles all that.
OMAR
Great.
LARA
And parking. There's a gate code. Four-seven-one-one. Guest spots on the left. Don't park behind the Tesla or Graham loses his mind.
OMAR
Four-seven-one-one. Got it.
LARA
And Hazel will pretend she doesn't need you. Just so you're ready.
OMAR
I'll be ready.
(She walks him toward the door. The dog barks again.)
LARA
That's Douglas. He barks at everyone who isn't family.
OMAR
Give me a month. She'll be writing essays you actually want to read.
LARA
I don't need to read them. I just need her to write them.
(She opens the front door. OMAR steps out.)
(calling after him)
LARA
Four-seven-one-one! For the gate!
(OMAR walks to his car. Checks the time on his phone.)
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.
Take the Stage