CROSSING THE LINE

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Synopsis

Alexis Hayden is an unhappy woman separated by taboo from her psychiatrist, David Spiegel. Having pierced the doctor’s professional armor, she has fallen in love with a hidden self revealed in his out-of-print book of poetry dedicated ‘To Phaedra’.

Her blue-sky salesman husband — immune to his own or any line — cautions that Alexis’ therapy is once again becoming a seductive dance. Despite his warning, however, patient and doctor — blind to the needs revealed in the mirror of their relationship — chasse ever closer to the taboo line.

Desperate to extricate himself from the pas de deux, Spiegel blames and abandons his patient. Overwhelmed by a denied and mounting obsession, however, he engages a prostitute whose wrecking ball curiosity razes his crumbling defenses. A tearful telephone call — Alexis has been assaulted — leads to a late night rendezvous at Spiegel’s office.

Spiegel — confessing his blindness and the shambles it has caused — surrenders to Alexis’ need that he cross the taboo line. In the no-man’s land that had separated them, Alexis embraces him at last. She discovers, however, that doctors are also patients, that patients can be doctors, and that the touch of either can both heal or harm. And too late she learns that return is impossible from the line that divides a woman and an unhappy psychiatrist.

CAST OF CHARACTERS

THE DOCTOR:	David Spiegel, M.D., a boyish, middle-aged psychiatrist whose cowboy boots are a chink in his steel-gray, business suit armor.
THE PATIENT:	Alexis Hayden, a fiery redheaded patient desperately in love with the doctor.
THE HUSBAND:	Andrew Hayden, a cocky, blue-sky real estate salesman who loves Alexis, but needs no one.
THE STRANGER:	A nameless pair of cowboy boots in a crowded bar. He knows what women need.
THE WHORE:	A brassy redhead from an out-call service. Close your eyes and she is anyone you desire.

Staging Summary

The play is performed on a single, complex set. Center stage is a New York City psychiatrist’s office – a desk on one side and a couch on the other. An empty space, like a forbidden line, divides the office. Elevated stage right is Spiegel’s post-modern, fortress-like loft. Elevated stage left is Alexis’ bedroom.

Act I:	Act II:
Scene 1: Wednesday evening. Office.	Scene 1: Friday evening. Office.
Scene 2: An hour later, Alexis’ bedroom.	Scene 2: Immediately following. Office.
Scene 3: Thursday evening. Office.	Scene 3: One hour later. Alexis’ bedroom.
Scene 4: Thursday night. Spiegel’s loft.	Scene 4: Simultaneously. Spiegel’s loft.
Scene 5: Three am. A dreamscape incorporating the entire stage.	Scene 5: Immediately following. Spiegel’s apartment AND Alexis’ bedroom.
	Scene 6: Eleven p.m. Office.