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1. Describe Vivian as she appears at the opening of the play.

At the beginning of the play, Vivian is pushing an IV pole. She is tall and thin, barefoot, and bald; Vivian wears two hospital gowns, a hospital ID bracelet, and a baseball cap.

2. What is the standard greeting where Vivian is? What is her standard response?

Where Vivian is, the standard greeting is “How are you feeling today?” Vivian's standard response is “Fine.”

3. What are the two examples Vivian gives of being asked the standard greeting?

The two examples Vivian gives of being asked the standard greeting are: when she was throwing up in a plastic washbasin, and emerging from a four-hour operation with a tube in every orifice.

4. How does Vivian say she would have preferred her play be cast? Why can it not be?

Vivian says she would have preferred her play be cast in the mythic-heroic-pastoral mode. It cannot be because the facts, most notably stage-four metastatic ovarian cancer, conspire against it.

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