To Be Kate Sophia Lugo

I am Kate: poised, smart, rude. I come first because I deserve it. For this hour, I will kick, scream and protest as I please, and the feelings will be very real. There have been many Kates before, but the challenge lies in making this one unique. The key is dissecting and predicting myself in another time and body, under a different roof. Strangers and loved ones laugh at me or cringe in fear, the greatest gifts they can give me at this moment. My lover, Petruchio, my simple friend David hours before, seduces me with his crude humor and brazen masculinity.

Now Petruchio has forgotten his lines, but my story must live on. I put aside what I have memorized by heart and ask myself, what would Sophia do? David catches on, and Petruchio is brave again.

As the curtains close, I barely notice my exhaustion. I change into my clothes, but after looking in the mirror I cannot remove my makeup. After all, I would like the audience to know who had borrowed Kate's body.