Dear Editors,
Please consider my one-act play, “A Universe for Two,” for publication in iExile. Given the journal’s dedication to works that explore themes of displacement, artistic identity, and the internal landscapes of the émigré experience, I believe this piece would resonate deeply with your readership.
The play unfolds in a single, suffocating apartment where Elena, a translator, and Tomasz, a once-promising poet, are trapped in a cycle of waiting—for a phone call, for recognition, for an end to their own stasis. As they confront the gap between their former ambitions and their current reality, the arrival of a mysterious Waitress and a phone call from an unseen man force a reckoning with the nature of art, love, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive. The “exile” of the piece is not merely geographical, but existential: it is the exile from one’s own potential, from intimacy, and from the act of creation itself.
Written in a deliberately spare, theatrical style, “A Universe for Two” relies on the power of subtext and precise, poetic language. It is a play about the silence between words and the actions that speak when language fails.
The complete script is attached for your review. It has not been previously published. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Barys Paulau
Barys Paulau is a Belarusian writer, playwright, and cultural studies scholar. He holds an MA in Cultural Studies from Lithuania and is a member of the Memory Studies Association (Netherlands). His academic essays explore literature, theater, and cinema.