He shared with me a new inspiration behind the show: Robert Wile's photograph Suicide (Fallen Body).
"On May 1, 1947, Evelyn McHale leapt to her death from the observation deck of the Empire State Building. Photographer Robert Wiles took a photo of McHale a few minutes after her death. The photo ran a couple of weeks later in Life magazine accompanied by the following caption: On May Day, just after leaving her fiancé, 23-year-old Evelyn McHale wrote a note. 'He is much better off without me ... I wouldn't make a good wife for anybody,' ... Then she crossed it out. She went to the observation platform of the Empire State Building. Through the mist she gazed at the street, 86 floors below. Then she jumped. In her desperate determination she leaped clear of the setbacks and hit a United Nations limousine parked at the curb. Across the street photography student Robert Wiles heard an explosive crash. Just four minutes after Evelyn McHale's death Wiles got this picture of death's violence and its composure.
From McHale's NY Times obituary, Empire State Ends Life of Girl, 20: At 10:40 A. M., Patrolman John Morrissey of Traffic C, directing traffic at Thirty-fourth Street and Fifth Avenue, noticed a swirling white scarf floating down from the upper floors of the Empire State. A moment later he heard a crash that sounded like an explosion. He saw a crowd converge in Thirty-third Street.
Two hundred feet west of Fifth Avenue, Miss McHale's body landed atop the car. The impact stove in the metal roof and shattered the car's windows. The driver was in a near-by drug store, thereby escaping death or serious injury. On the observation deck, Detective Frank Murray of the West Thirtieth Street station, found Miss McHale's gray cloth coat, her pocketbook with several dollars and the note, and a make-up kit filled with family pictures. The serenity of McHale's body amidst the crumpled wreckage it caused is astounding."
http://kottke.org/08/07/the-most-beautiful-suicide
From our previous discussion, I explained to Tyler how I was fascinated with idea of juxtaposing the illusion of beauty and death with Cynthia (making the audience feel attracted to her subconsciously only then to realize that they themselves are "attracted" to a corpse). The above photograph is an example of a successful visual representation of this effect. Even though the woman portrayed in the picture is dead, we recognize she is still very much beautiful. This only strengthens my intent to bring this to life on stage.
We then proceeded to go right down the list of suggestions I made to the script, grappling with each one by one. After a good two hours, it's safe to say Tyler and I are the same page in collaborating to make this script this best it could possibly be. He was very objective and enthusiastic to accept what I presented. The first re-write is expected to be completed by the end of July to give room for more editing in August.
