16

                         ETTA
       Maybe we should take another bow.
 
                        VIVIAN
       Mother says to always leave the 
       audience clapping for more.  Right,
       Dorothy Jean?

But DOROTHY, still basking in the afterglow of a smashing performance, does not hear VIVIAN.  She is looking past the sea of congratulatory faces gathered around THE DANDRIDGE SISTERS, searching for AUNTIE MAMA, whose validation matters the most to her. 

Finally, DOROTHY spots AUNTIE MAMA standing alone on the other side of the stage wings.  A group of STAGEHANDS, in an uproar of activity, suddenly crosses the wings between them.  WILBUR, the stage manager, fires off a volley of staccato directions to them.

                        WILBUR
       Get those damn hats off the stage!  
       Hey, watch what you're doing with 
       that cart!  Keep your eyes in your 
       head and not on those chorus girls.  
       Bring up the scenery for The Nicholas 
       Brothers' Act.  C'mon, move it.  Get 
       the lead out!

A brief verbal exchange between THREE PERFORMERS is overheard in the midst of WILBUR’s directions to the STAGEHANDS and the backstage chaos: