Maya's apartment

Transition: Electronic glitches end "Side Hustle Symphony," lights snap to single spot on Maya

MAYA: (reading email on phone, voice getting smaller) "Dear Maya, Thank you for your creative concepts. However, we've decided to move forward with an AI-generated solution that better meets our efficiency and budget requirements..." (pause, phone drops) Efficiency. (bitter laugh) Seventeen years of art school debt for... efficiency.

(Pixel the cat meows offstage)

MAYA: (continuing) I know, Pixel. Mama's having an existential crisis. Again. (picks up sketchbook, flips through) Look at this stuff. Hand-drawn typography. Custom illustrations. Color theory that took me four years to understand. (closes book) And apparently ChatGPT can do it all in three minutes.

(Phone buzzes - another notification)

MAYA: (checking phone) "Your Uber Eats order has been delivered by robot." Even my dinner doesn't need humans anymore.

Transition to Scene 2: Maya's apartment dims as Rosa's call center lights up