  Let $q(x,t)$ satisfy the Dirichlet initial-boundary value problem for the
nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation on the finite interval, $0 < x < L$, with
$q_{0}(x) = q(x,0)$, $g_{0}(t) = q(0,t)$, $f_{0}(t) = q(L,t)$. Let $g_{1}(t)$
and $f_{1}(t)$ denote the {\it unknown} boundary values $q_{x}(0,t)$ and
$q_{x}(L,t)$, respectively. We first show that these unknown functions can be
expressed in terms of the given initial and boundary conditions through the
solution of a system of nonlinear ODEs. Although the question of the global
existence of solution of this system remains open, it appears that this is the
first time in the literature that such a characterization is explicitely
described for a nonlinear evolution PDE defined on the interval; this result is
the extension of the analogous result of [4] and [6] from the half-line to the
interval. We then show that $q(x,t)$ can be expressed in terms of the solution
of a $2\times 2$ matrix Riemann-Hilbert problem formulated in the complex $k$ -
plane. This problem has explicit $(x,t)$ dependence in the form $\exp[2ikx +
4ik^2t]$, and it has jumps across the real and imaginary axes. The relevant
jump matrices are explicitely given in terms of the spectral data $\{a(k),
b(k)\}$, $\{A(k), B(k)\}$, and $\{\A(k), \B(k)\}$, which in turn are defined in
terms of $q_{0}(x)$, $\{g_{0}(t), g_{1}(t)\}$, and $\{f_{0}(t), f_{1}(t)\}$,
espectively.
