ACT TWO
SCENE 1
Scene 1: The stage of the Fulton Theatre, during the morning hours just preceding the afternoon dress rehearsal of “April Follies.”
At rise: The curtain rises on a disorderly stage where a song and comedy “number” is being rehearsed. We are looking at the stage from the back—that is, we see directly into the footlights and into an empty auditorium.
Stage hands are working, shifting scenery back and forth; electricians are placing lamps and experimenting with lighting effects. As the curtain rises we hear the banging of a piano. We see a chorus in practice clothes. We see Carter dancing.
In the back, at the footlights, Lee, the producer, sits in a tilted chair, a manuscript in his hand. Grouped between Lee and the chorus, on either side of Carter, are Gene, Miss Glynn, Mary Dale, Jimmy and another actor. Seated in the shadowy foreground, playing cards with a stage-hand, is Jack Robin.
Most of the action in this scene is paced very swiftly. It gives the effect of the hurried disorder which is characteristic of the eleventh hour of a theatrical production. The action is almost frantic—one speech piles on top of another so that you can scarcely follow it. It is not necessary that you follow it. The picture is enough. It is only at certain moments—moments when the story of the play enters with its deeper note—that the action is slow, that characters begin to come into focus—such moments as when Jack and Mary are alone, when Jack is alone with Lee, etc.
Lee
That’s all right! Is everybody concerned in the Dixie scene here?
Gene