Title: Anxiety Sustained As

Act 1

H in his late sixties has been a construction site worker for almost his entire life. He comes to the construction site where he’s been working for four months and finds out no workers have shown up at the site. The construction team is building a gigantic water park in the middle of the city. With his experiences working at several dams, he was highly recommended. He has been a decent worker. Agitated that he is the only one at work, he soon looks around, seeing only remnants of abandoned furniture. He decides to check the diner located on the top of the construction site.

Act 2

H arrives at the door of the diner. H opens the door, but it’s locked. He receives a text from his daughter, who is now a documentary filmmaker against urban gentrification. In the text, his daughter, worries about him not wearing a proper dust mask. He soon hears the sound of an earthquake, steadily increasing in volume. The sound seems closer every minute. To his surprise, he checks the surrounding exterior of the diner. He finds an empty photo frame, which must’ve been used for a family portrait. Not only does he hear the loudening sound of the earthquake, but also he feels the vibration of the thin photo frame that he is holding in his hand.

Act 3

In front of the diner door, H considers going back home. In his sightline, a protest sign says “Right To Sustain Means Right To Live”. In the distance, he sees a bulldozer ignite its engine, making a similar noise to that of the earthquake. The ground rumbles again, and as its victim, the sign hung on the diner door “Free meals for construction workers!” falls down. H cannot move one step further, fearing. The earthquake shakes the yellow and brownish door hard. H, murmuring to himself, “Who is the victim now?”, breathes in the dusty air as reaching his hand to the doorknob. [The Art of the Fugue by Bach plays in background]