Then Lauren says, “Impressive.” Cate picks up maybe a little nervousness from their side of the table. They are getting older, maybe wondering if their best work is behind them. Cate belongs to a newer generation, with all the threat implicit in that. Maybe they are trying to both give her a shot and at the same time latch on to some new energy, incorporate it into their work. She looks at them, tries to get a read on who they are to each other. These are women who at one time slept with each other, but not for some time now. Given the sexual metrics of the theater world, Cate gives one of them a treacherous affair a decade or two back that has left the relationship wounded.

The collaborative spell is broken by Molly’s cell, which goes off now, taking up all the attention in the room. After peering at it as though it is a Magic 8 Ball, Molly takes the call and begins a muttered conversation.

Lauren forges on with Cate. “What about the lawn party at Charleston House?”

“I have an idea about that.” Cate’s voice sounds tinny in her own ears. Like she’s a door-to-door salesperson with a revolutionary hairbrush. “I thought about taking the Bloomsbury gossips into the aisle stage right, gathering through the intermission, milling around with croquet mallets, glasses of lemonade. They’ll be miked, of course, but initially speaking softly, then as the intermission winds down, they are audibly sniping about Vita and her pretentious poetry, and speculating on her relationship with Mary Campbell. They make fun of her breeches and mustache. All the good stuff you have in there already. They’ll just amp up the volume, holding pipes or smoking cigarettes in holders. You could use vapes. One of the guys could wear a monocle. One of those guys did wear a monocle. And as the house lights go down, so would the light in the writing tower, and then Vita would appear tucked in an open doorway, briefly, to show her wounded at not being taken seriously.”

Lauren, who has been attentive to Cate in a way that’s unnervingly intense, now turns to Molly and says, “Can you get off that? Who is it anyway?”

“Rita. She thinks someone broke into her apartment. Wore her clothes then came in again to put them back in the closet.” After she says this, she taps a forefinger at her temple, then presses the phone against one of her large breasts and stares at Lauren. To this, Lauren says, “Tell her the signal’s breaking up. Come back to us. We’re in the midst of seeing what Cate will do for the play.”

Cate notices the “will” and says, “I thought I was only trying out for the job. I thought you were also interviewing others.”

“That part is over,” Lauren says. “We have chosen you.”