Anarchists: A Comedy - Act 1 Outline

ANARCHISTS: A COMEDY

Outline and Character Breakdown

CHARACTERS:

BARBARA

JODIE/ATHENA

ALEX/JOACHIM

ROGER/ORST

SHANGO

Setting: A nice house in a development, not too far from a large-ish city in the western part of the United States.

Time: The summer of 2008.

OUTLINE

Scene 1: In Which A Death Has Consequences and Decisions Are Made

It’s the afternoon of Bob DeWitt’s funeral. His son and daughter, Alex and Jodie, and his best friend, Roger, wait for Bob’s widow, Barbara, to pull herself together. It takes some time. They need her to come to some decisions about what’s going to happen now that Bob is gone. Roger lets them know that Bob’s business investments hadn’t done as well as he’d hoped, and the family is now broke and in danger of losing their house. They need to decide now, because Alex and Jodie are out of there, ASAP, and Roger needs to focus on work. Barbara isn’t sure how she’s going to pull herself together and keep the house. Everyone reminds her of what a bullying jerk Bob was, and how they’ve all hoped and waited for the day they were free of him. Jodie, in particular, yells at her mother for being a doormat all these years and being unable to stand up for herself or do anything proactive because of Bob’s iron rule. She declares herself done with her family unless they can get their act together. Alex is similarly detached, lost in a haze of alcohol. He and Jodie leave Barbara and Roger to figure it out. Barbara is confused and distraught. Roger makes a pass at her, but she rebuffs him. He offers her a job to get out of the pit they’re in: his security firm needs intel on a group of radicals coming to town to protest a conference. He wants her to let them in her house and gather information. Barbara isn’t ready to do anything like that. He says that she’s in a desperate situation and will need to do something. He leaves her the web address of a listserv for radicals.

Scene 2: In Which A Connection Is Made

Barbara is deeply ambivalent about going on the internet to check out the listserv, but finally, with a little liquid courage, she goes on and reads some of the postings. We see the people as she reads. Joachim, a young man, who’s following the circus, spying on their animal treatment is one. Orst, a middle-aged European of nebulous origin and not particularly great English, is backpacking across the U.S., looking for fellow travelers. Athena, a young woman, is heading to protest at the conference and looking for a place to crash with her partner. Barbara steels herself and starts to respond.

Scene 3: In Which New Tricks are Learned and Old Dogs are Discussed

Joachim is the first to arrive. He’s a quiet, studious young man, recently dropped out from a good college back east. His parents are quite supportive of his new lifestyle, almost to the point of pushing him into it. He’s quite nervous about his audition for the circus the next day. He’s been working on various tricks in order to impress them. Barbara isn’t sure how to deal with him, but watches his tricks and tries to help him out. She remembers how her own son liked to juggle when he was young and they talk about childhood pets. She connects with him and sends him off to bed. After he’s gone, she sits down to e-mail Roger, but leaves out the details of Joachim’s circus mission.

Scene 4: In Which The Old World Meets the New

The next night, Orst has arrived and the three of them are celebrating Joachim’s successful audition. Orst is convivial and charming. He’s very Old World, a survivor of various revolutions and actions. He brings pot and encourages drinking. Joachim is obviously put off by him a bit, but Barbara is fascinated. Orst talks about revolution and uprising, passionately. Joachim tries to keep the focus on the circus, but Orst keeps bringing it back to radical actions. He tries to push Joachim to do something big, grand and violent, like setting the lions loose on the clowns or bringing the big top down in a hail of fire. Joachim is definitely not interested in that, and finally leaves to go to bed. Orst turns his attention to Barbara, but she resists. He heads out to look for more fun people, and she again leaves out the important details in her e-mail to Roger.

Scene 5: In Which The Gods Arrive

Finally, Athena and Shango arrive at Barbara’s. They are seemingly very in sync, even though they’re quite different. Athena is a bit of hippie, and Shango is a bit of a punk. They are clearly quite close and have a real bond. They are also clearly hiding something. When Barbara asks about their names, they clam up and evade. They also talk in code about an big event they’re planning, a major action at the event. Shango and Orst bond, sharing visions of revolution and dramatic acts against the establishment and Athena and Barbara bond. Joachim enters, but is also clearly hiding something. Barbara, though, brings the whole group together for a “family dinner.” Although they’re strangers to her and new to the house, Barbara is happy to have people in the house. They share a toast together to the future.

- End of Act 1 -