Never Let Them Define You

RALLYING THE TROOPS

"Okay, everyone...I like telling you this less than you're gonna like hearing it, but the company's going under; financially speaking."

"Are you saying we're gonna lose our jobs?" shouts a female dancer.

"No, no, no, the company's gonna be fine, because we have one hell of a company right here; all of us, we got this. The show we've been working on, none of you know what the whole thing's going to look like, but you all know your parts very well, and I'll promise you one thing. If we do this, just like we've been practicing, then this company will not crash, and Detroit is going to be bigger than ever! They say that this isn't our place, that the only industry that's meant to thrive here is automobiles, but we're all here. This opportunity we have is undeniably great-"

"How can you say this?!" yells a male singer. "What do you know about business?!"

"Nothing! Never claimed to, but I know about art, I know about people, and I know about what it means to be alive right here and right now. I'm not asking you to trust me, I'm just telling you that we need to see this through...I've been perfecting the show and it's done. That's what I came here to really say, it's done, and we need to do it right now." She sees some suits bust into the room, including David.

"What the hell is going on here?! We told you that information in confidence!"

The whole crowd of cast members turns to him with ridiculing faces.

"Why didn't you tell us?" asks the singer.

"Do we not mean anything to you?!" shouts the dancer.

"No, no, it's just that when you're running a business-"

"Be honest with me, David," interrupts Cassandra, "were you planning on cancelling the show, just so that you wouldn't have to pay all these people?"

"It's Mr. Mills and that idea is an unreasonable delusion designed to inspire paranoia! We just, well, it's not easy to manage so many branches, we have to make cuts, and-"

"Do you trust me?"

"What?"

"You clearly have confidence in me, but do you trust me?"

"Well, I..." He looks around at everyone staring at him, then nods solemnly. "I trust you, Cassandra."

"We have to make this show, I have to make this show, and I know that I'm not the only one. The world needs to see it, you can't expect me to cover sheets of paper with the ink of my bleeding heart, then tell me to throw it all away, because you're worried it's gonna be a waste of money."

He stomps around a bit and throws up his arms. "You're really putting me on the spot here! What am I to say? That art is valuable, that your creation should be cherished; why do you think I made this company? The world is cruel, Cassandra, I know you know that, but do you really think that this show is going to mean something? Tell me!"

She takes a deep breath and crosses her arms. "I made it for a cruel world, from a cruel world, and about a cruel world; yes, I think it's going to mean a hell of a lot of something." She turns to the cast. "Would you be satisfied if this was all thrown away?"

"No!" they all shout, almost in unison.

She turns back to David. "And do you really think, even if it doesn't quite reach the scale of my vision, that it's not going to turn a profit or break even?"

"No, I know what you're capable of."

"Okay, then this is all or nothing..." She raises her arms straight into the air and looks at the ceiling. "Let's get this show on the road!"