The Voices in the Mirror

The Voices in the Mirror


The stage is set to be the room of a high school girl. There is a desk and a chair, with two or three shirts hung on the back of it, a CD player or laptop on the desk, and there is the frame of a full length oval mirror either hanging or standing dead center.

There are two people standing in darkness with their heads down parallel to both sides of the mirror frame, making four frozen figures total. (See Diagram)

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A girl enters stage left. She is in full makeup with her hair up in a pony tail, and her school clothes on (maybe boots and corduroys, a white tank top or t-shirt with a jacket over it) and she carries a bookbag on her back. She enters and throws the bag down next to her desk. She fiddles with it a second and then looks over at the clothes on the chair. She picks up the top shirt and looks at it. She hits play on her CD player or laptop. Very softly in the background, Unhappy by Thriving Ivory begins to play (if that song is found to be insufficient for whatever reason, Stranger by Thriving Ivory, The Mixed Tape by Jack’s Mannequin, or Nolita Fairytale by Vanessa Carlton are all other options. I would prefer that there was some sort of soundtrack in the background, but if this is impossible, silence is fine. I just feel that it flows much better with some form of music.).

She approaches the mirror and looks in it, holding up the shirt to her body. She spins once or twice, admiring the shirt held up to her frame. As she spins the last time, she catches something that she doesn’t like. She stares at that place on her body for a second, and drops the shirt to the ground, now she is solely examining herself. She spins and prods at herself, appearing to get more frustrated by the second.

As she continues to body-check, different voices speak. These are the frozen figures next to the mirror. All talk about the girl. Each person talking has a buzz word, that they particularly emphasize every time they speak. The first person begins speaking, gets through their piece, and then fades in the background continuing to adlib, but focusing on emphasizing their buzz word, over and over again, but allowing for the featured speaker to be heard.

First Frozen: (A girl, dressed similarly to the girl in the mirror, speaking into a cellphone, with the posture of a typical catty high school girl.)

(Biting and Sarcastically) God she’s just so pretty. Like I think we should put her up on a throne. She’d like that. Hahaha or I have a better idea. Why don’t we just stand on either side of her to display her amazing beauty. Like she would just stand out so much next to us.

(First Speaker Fades Into The Background, but continues to adlib)

Second Voice: (A boy wearing a letterman jacket, turned halfway around to look at her. He speaks in a judging voice)

Why does she wear such tight clothes all the time?

I mean she’s gotten so fat its just like “eww. please don’t”

Love handles hanging out. And her thighs are like tree trunks.

(Second Speaker Fades Into The Background, but continues to adlib)

Third Voice: (Girl in her basketball uniform, turned halfway to face her again. She speaks in a hushed, gossipy voice).

There she is again staring

Shes a dyke—she’s got to be.

And it totally looks like its possible—so manly

She never talks about boys

(Third Speaker Fades Into The Background, but continues to adlib)

Fourth Voice: Barrett: (Boy standing also holding a cellphone, but he is texting. He reads his text aloud, speaking as though teasing a buddy).

Are you still hanging out with her tonight or have you realized your standards?

God man, she’s repulsive. Like I thought you had sunk your lowest. But this is

bad, even for you.

(All speakers continue their adlib but regain their volume, so it is just a tornado a hateful voices. The music gets significantly louder at this point as well)

Through all of this, the girl in the mirror has been simultaneously reacting to what they are saying as well as taking off her makeup, taking down her hair, and taking off her jacket, boots, and however much clothing she is allowed to remove for a school appropriate play. (She does this in order to see herself without all the extra stuff; who she really is.) She reacts differently to each of their spiels. To the first one, she looks more at her face, getting really close to the mirror and trying to almost look inside herself. (this would be the speech in which she removes her makeup and takes down her hair. for the others, depending on their subject matter, she would do different things) At the end of the first speaker, she takes a step away from the mirror. After each additional speaker finishes their piece, she takes another step back, until she is four steps back away from the mirror, representing how each hurtful thing has taken away the ability to see herself clearly.

Once all the speakers have finished their individual pieces, and they are all loudly adlibbing, she is far from the mirror, without any confidence, body language is completely dejected and slumped. Then, out of desperation, or perhaps because she has mustered her last ounce of courage, she yells/begs (depending on how you’d like to play it),

“STOP!”

The voices cut off, and the music is the only thing playing. Everyone freezes. She stands there, maybe crying or else looking very hurt and uncomfortable in her own skin. After about ten seconds, she takes a breath. She hugs herself. (The hug lasts about five seconds). Drops her arms. Breathes. Confidently takes four steps toward the mirror, taking back the part of herself that had been taken from her. She stands close to the mirror. Stares at herself dead on for about five seconds. She says (with defiance and confidence)

“I’m okay.”

Blackout.