praying mantis

Two young service industry workers— an enigmatic non-binary feminine server and a charismatic barback— seek refuge in a notorious bar with a dark history. Following a dehumanizing encounter, their conversations delve into lost humanity, what we lose when we sweat things out, and the tantalizing accounts of Anna Nicole Smith's encounters with the supernatural. As they grapple with their struggles in the service industry and unravel the enigma of their own complicated relationship, the arrival of an overly inquisitive old white gay man ignites a climactic transformation that makes one of them become more bug than human.

What happens when we feel like our jobs have made us into monsters? Who are we when our relationships are just transactional? Why are we fascinated with monsters? What happens when we really put ourselves out there and the world rejects us as monstrous?

full script available by request