{"id":465,"date":"2009-02-18T22:08:13","date_gmt":"2009-02-19T05:08:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wwwold.sketchwar.org\/?p=465"},"modified":"2009-02-18T22:08:13","modified_gmt":"2009-02-19T05:08:13","slug":"the-modernistic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sketchwar.org\/?p=465","title":{"rendered":"The Modernistic"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Ridgeview: a small college town in central Illinois, nestled amidst the prairies and the cornfields.)<\/em><\/p>\n

(Exterior shot of the Ridgeview bus station. Summer, early evening. We hear the tinny sound of a telephone ringing, as heard through a receiver. Dissolve to the bus station\u2019s interior. Camera pans across a line of payphones and comes to rest on one that is missing its receiver. Camera follows the cord down and finds HARRY DOWNING curled up on the floor beneath the payphone, the receiver cradled against his cheek. He is clutching a carry-on bag.)<\/em><\/p>\n

HARRY
\nCome on come on pick up…<\/p>\n

(The party being called finally answers: we hear the English voice of RICHARD ATKINS, Harry\u2019s psychiatrist.)<\/em><\/p>\n

RICHARD (groggy)<\/em>
\nHello?<\/p>\n

HARRY
\nRichard? I\u2019m here.<\/p>\n

RICHARD
\nHarry?<\/p>\n

HARRY
\nYes.<\/p>\n

(Cut to RICHARD in bed, in his pajamas, in London. He turns on a bedside light and fishes for his glasses.)<\/em><\/p>\n

RICHARD
\nDo you know what time it is?<\/p>\n

HARRY
\nI\u2019m in Ridgeview. I just got in.<\/p>\n

RICHARD
\nWell, congratulations… Look, could you call me back when it isn\u2019t one in the morning?<\/p>\n

(Cut to the Ridgeview bus station.)<\/em><\/p>\n

HARRY
\nI need you now. Ridgeview… Oh my gosh I can hardly breathe.<\/p>\n

RICHARD (sighs)<\/em>
\nDoes it look like you remembered it?<\/p>\n

HARRY
\nI don\u2019t know. I\u2019m still in the bus station.<\/p>\n

RICHARD
\nI see. What about the community theatre, is that all arranged?<\/p>\n

HARRY
\nYeah, I\u2019m meeting with the current manager in about\u2026 twenty minutes. The guy seems pretty happy to turn it over to me, but\u2026<\/p>\n

RICHARD
\nBut what, Harry?<\/p>\n

HARRY
\nI still don\u2019t know if I\u2019m ready to set foot in a theatre again. I\u2019m feeling waves of humiliation as I sit here.<\/p>\n

RICHARD
\nHarry, you\u2019re not the first promising young playwright to have a flop on the West End.<\/p>\n

HARRY
\nName one other.<\/p>\n

RICHARD
\nJust because I can\u2019t name them doesn\u2019t mean they don\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n

HARRY
\nNo, but it means you can\u2019t name them.<\/em><\/p>\n

RICHARD
\nHarry. Ridgeview will welcome you back! You\u2019re their most famous son. And the theatre?<\/p>\n

HARRY
\nThe Modernistic.<\/p>\n

RICHARD
\nThat\u2019s your roots, Harry. This is going to be good. Now go soak up the inspiration. And stop calling me, get yourself a new therapist out there.<\/p>\n

HARRY
\nI don\u2019t think they have therapists out here.<\/p>\n

RICHARD
\nSavages.<\/p>\n

HARRY
\nBut you\u2019re right. It is pathetic of me to have a four-thousand-mile umbilical cord, stretching all the way back to you.<\/p>\n

RICHARD
\nNo. It\u2019s not an umbilical cord, Harry. Because you\u2019re back in the womb now. <\/em> In Ridgeview. In the Modernistic. Now attach yourself to the nutrient-rich lining and grow! Break a leg.<\/p>\n

(RICHARD hangs up.)<\/em><\/p>\n

HARRY (under his breath)<\/em>
\nThanks\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Ridgeview: a small college town in central Illinois, nestled amidst the prairies and the cornfields.) (Exterior shot of the Ridgeview bus station. Summer, early evening. We hear the tinny sound of a telephone ringing, as heard through a receiver. Dissolve to the bus station\u2019s interior. Camera pans across a line of payphones and comes to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[75],"class_list":["post-465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sketches","tag-fry-and-spiner"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=465"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/465\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sketchwar.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}