A series of mini-dramas based on public conversations, as overheard and rewritten by local playwright/director Aurora Stewart de Peña.

Overheard at Yonge-Dundas Square

Chayce, Jenn and Mandi ascend the steps to the street from the subway. They are in their mid-teens. Chayce wears a baseball hat with a curved brim. Mandi and Jenn both wear low, tight, pale jeans and bomber jackets in non-leather materials. All three have backpacks, their thumbs tucked into the shoulder straps.

Chayce: This is it?

Mandi: Is it? I don’t fucking know.

Chayce: It’s supposed to be a square.

Jenn: Well it’s not an actual square in a square shape.

Chayce: Yeah, no shit. It’s an intersection.

What’s the point of calling it a square if it’s not a square?

I thought there would be people having café au laits and shit.

Mandi: We’re not in fucking Paris, France, Chayce. It’s still Canada.

Holy fuck!

Chayce: What?

Mandi: It’s a fucking scooter!

Ahmed, in neatly tailored forest green pants, drives by on a red vespa, screaming into his cellphone.

Ahmed: Why do you insist on degrading me like this, Francine?!!?

Ahmed drives away.

Chayce: Fuckin’ idiot. Guy looked like an idiot.

Jenn: He was hot.

Chayce: They tell you it’s a fucking square, but they’re fucking lying. That’s for sure.

Jenn: Who do you think Francine is?

____

Aurora Stewart de Peña is half of the theatre company Birdtown & Swanville (the other half is Nika Mistruzzi). You can follow her on Twitter at @Aurorahhh.

For more, follow us on Twitter at @torontostandard, and subscribe to our newsletter.