Small Block - Act One
Table Read
Manifest Media / TABLE READ
4.0 • 440 Ratings
🗓️ 11 November 2025
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
It's Homecoming Weekend in North Texas, 1994. Fourteen-year-old P is barely holding it together, shaving a single whisker in the bathroom mirror, writing a note he almost can't take back, and dialing his best friend Kev before a Zippo flame turns fear into momentum.
At school, P's movie-trivia fluency sabotages Kev in a "battle of the sexes" quiz, earning heat from Kev and former best friend Bex. After class, the band - P, Kev, and Dizzy - argues Pantera vs. Korn, then mainlines '90s VHS nostalgia with Ace Ventura and The Crow.
Then the impossible slides by in stainless steel: a DeLorean. Its driver, "Miss World," knows her metal, quotes regrets, and won't take three teens on a joyride yet. She'll be back tomorrow at 11 A.M.
Under Friday-night lights, P pulls down a highlight-reel TD in a scrappy eighth-grade pickup game while Dizzy's hustling block saves the play. Back in the stands, P's parents pitch football and fitting in. P keeps tugging his shirt straight and his purple beanie low, but the question won't leave him alone: who is he allowed to be, especially if the words for it don't exist here?
SMALL BLOCK is a feature screenplay by Ashley Lauren, performed live and mixed like a feature film for your ears. From the award-winning team at TABLE READ / Manifest Media Productions.
Content Advisory: This episode contains suicidal ideation, transphobic and homophobic language, and minor fatphobic language, used intentionally to serve the story and its period portrayal.
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Cast (Full Feature):
P - Levi Dafferner
Kev - Kosi Eguchi
Bex - Piper Kingston
Dizzy - Deryck Hak
Miss World - Lydia Tinsley
Dad - Adam Pilver
Mrs. D - Gemma Kyle
Mom - Leah Zhang
Britt - Eric Miller
Tiff / Martha - Avery Norris
Mr. Welch / Kev's Dad - Eddie Aguirre
Dan / Zach - Aidan Dick
Jack - Kellen Rose
James - Michael Amir Nash
Rob - Jack Murphy
Janet / Video Store Clerk - Sabrina Ariss
Narrator - Paula Tiso
Written by Ashley Lauren
Produced by Jack Levy, Mark Knell, and Shaan Sharma for TABLE READ / Manifest Media
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | One, two, three. |
| 0:02.0 | Table reads, Small Blocks. |
| 0:05.0 | Small Block, written by Ashley Lauren. |
| 0:09.0 | Thank you for listening to Small Block. |
| 0:12.0 | Please note that there is adult language throughout that is not suitable for young listeners. |
| 0:16.0 | Furthermore, there are a few items that might be triggering for some readers. |
| 0:20.0 | These include |
| 0:20.9 | suicidal ideation, discussion, transphobic language, homophobic language, minor instances |
| 0:28.2 | of fatphobic language. All phobic language is used intentionally for thematic reasons. |
| 0:33.9 | It is not used without thought or due to either naivete or bigotry. |
| 0:39.7 | Thank you again for listening to Smallblock. |
| 0:42.0 | Now, on to the show. |
| 0:45.5 | Interior P's bathroom evening. |
| 0:47.3 | Holes Violet starts. |
| 0:51.2 | A mostly bare chin with a solitary black whisker. |
| 0:53.0 | P. 14. |
| 0:57.3 | Muscular but fluffy with padding. Face to the counter-length mirrors squints at his chin. He wears a purple beanie, gray hole t-shirt, jeans, flannel around |
| 1:03.9 | waist. Razor swipes the chin bear, meticulously swipes again, again. He picks up a small spiral notepad and a pen. |
| 1:13.6 | He shakes his arm, extending and curling his fingers. |
| 1:17.6 | He writes intensely, pauses, takes a deep breath, continues. |
| 1:22.6 | He generally lowers the pen to the counter. |
| 1:25.6 | Hand trembles. |
... |
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