Alpha Incorporated

I - i STAGE ME TO THEIR EYES

"Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you." - Matthew 7

"I was the buffet and he just couldn't resist the dessert." - Monica Lewinsky

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I - i

STAGE ME TO THEIR EYES

   She was Ophelia, once. Now, she hates the stage. She hates being on display, hates being someone else. The polished scuff of the flat black stage floor flashes into her memory with painful intensity. The floodlights blind her vision. She tells herself: you are Isabella, now.

Isabella tries to push aside the memories of the high school theatre production five years ago and attempts to focus on the here and now. This time she will not be playing the female lead in a Shakespearean tragedy. This is not about her, it is about him.

Charles Escalus, Vice President and Chairman of the Board of Alpha International Incorporated—tailored suit, shoes like mirrors, grey combover—makes his entrance from stage left, and walks to the podium in front of Isabella. He is not the man they have come to see. Escalus leans into the microphone and delivers his lines:

"Ladies and Gentleman, it is my great pleasure, indeed it is my honor, to have the privilege of introducing to you a man who really needs no introduction. The man to whom we all owe a great debt. A debt of gratitude, a debt of duty, a debt of obedience, and servitude. For, my friends, it has been because of the ambition of this man that we are here today, that we are who we are, that our success and our achievements have come to fruition, and that our dreams have been fulfilled."

Isabella shifts her weight to her other foot. She should have worn black flats like the other girls on the stage, not heels. She has been standing for an hour already while the final preparations for the event were being made. One media outlet demanded that the iconic Alpha International logo be moved so that it would not distract from their shot, and a heated discussion ensued. The company eventually won. And she is still standing.

Escalus continues: "Yet, as we know, it is not through achievement alone that success is measured. If I may quote Shakespeare—and it is fitting I do so since, after all, we are here at the Geary Theatre, the finest classical stage in San Francisco—the Bard wrote: 'When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept; Ambition should be made of sterner stuff.' And that is why we are here today, my friends, to welcome a new era of stern ambition!"

The audience erupts into its scripted applause. Isabella holds back a laugh. She is flush with excitement and wants to buy into this story. It is more fun that way.

In a moment, the young, mysterious, famously single, genetically-blessed CEO of one of the world's most profitable conglomerate of companies is about to stand a few feet from her. She wonders if this over the top drama with its lofty speeches and choreographed production is like the rest of this company. A company of actors. There is that other line too, about all the world's a stage, that comes to mind.

While the hall echoes with a standing ovation, she wonders about how it is that she, Isabella Measures, Communications intern from a small town in upstate New York, is about to share the stage with one of the world's most powerful men, and on the third day of her job. She has a pretty clear idea now.

Isabella is being used as a set piece, the decorative backdrop for this media event. She wishes that they at least would have incorporated chairs into the set design, but knows this is not about her. She also understands this is not really a meeting of the shareholders of Alpha International; it is a disguise for some important corporate announcement. This staging is an opportunity to get publicity and attention, to add value to the company's stock. She has no idea what the announcement is about, but she gets the sense that everybody else does.