The Stone of Sisyphus
Jamie Adler, a young graphic designer at a large corporation, finds she and several of her co-workers must stay late to finish the company's quarterly report. In doing so, she misses her son's birthday party, deals with the petty problems and office politics, and navigates the insulting demands of clients. The evening, in short, becomes an encapsulation of everything about her job that grinds her life into the ground. There is, however, one, last desperate hope.
GENRE: Comedy
TIMING: 30 minutes
CHARACTERS:
JAMIE ADLER Employee. Young woman, 30.
RICK Junior Executive. Young man, 30.
JACKIE Assistant. Woman of indeterminate age.
HARLAN SVENT An investment banker. In his late 40s or older.
MARY MARGARET Employee. Woman in her 40s.
MILT Employee. Man in his 30s or older.
(The following are only heard, not seen. Either pre-recorded or performed backstage by the above actors.)
ROD Husband of Jamie.
JEFFREY Jamie and Rod’s toddler son
MALE ANNOUNCER Bubbly TV news anchor
FEMALE ANNOUNCER Effervescent TV news anchor
MARY MARGARET
we had to crunch all the numbers with anything that worked: hand calculator, adding machine, abacus, fingers, toes, anything. But we found the numbers weren't jiving. Now I know what you're going to say but we didn’t have time to rent outside hardware and had to use what was available so it’s not my fault. Anyway, once we worked our way back we found the problem was right at the very beginning when somebody forgot to carry the “one” in the equation. (Pause.) OK, that one was my fault.