Answer:
AFTER receiving his assignment, Jonas feels isolated and different
or that he would rather be working at the house of the old
If the verb in the independent clause is in the present tense, the tense that the verb in the indirect quotation should be is <span>remain in its original tense.
</span>You don't have to shift tenses because it is present in the independent one.
For example:
He says: "I need to wash my hair."
He says that he needs to wash his hair.
You wouldn't say - he says that he needed to wash his hair.
"By" is the preposition in the phrase "<span>He lives by a great little pizza place."</span>
Stage directions would be more likely to give a visual image of what is happening on the stage, since these parts describe what the character is doing at that moment.