By David Wesner Performance Rights It is an infringement of the federal copyright law to copy this script in any way or to perform this play without royalty payment. All rights are controlled by Eldridge Publishing Co. Inc. Contact the publisher for further scripts and licensing information. The author s name must appear on all programs and advertising with the notice: Produced by special arrangement with Eldridge Publishing Co. PUBLISHED BY ELDRIDGE PUBLISHING COMPANY www.histage.com 1997 by David Wesner Download your complete script from Eldridge Publishing http://www.histage.com/playdetails.asp?pid=110
- 2 - Dedication To Jim Hullinger, who opened not only the doors of the Lamb s Theatre to me, but also his heart. STORY OF THE PLAY The Rev. Jonathan Workman is married to Lisa, a pretty blonde who is full of life and as sincere as the day is long. On the surface, they seem fine, but they are hiding a secret from their visiting missionary house guests, Jo, Calvin and Anthony. Jo and Calvin too, are hiding a secret. Anthony is even more of a mystery, especially after he disappears for two days and then reappears with a bandaged head, amnesia and Agent Frank Farragut of the IBI (Illinois Bureau of Investigation). Anthony, it seems, doesn t know who any of these people are. And what about Agent Farragut? Is he just your typical suit-and-tie, notepad-carrying, tough-guy? The truth is, none of these characters are telling the truth. Even trying to follow the twists and turns you ll be surprised at the end of the play when the characters shed their masks and reveal who they really are! ALTAR OF DECEPTION was first performed September 8, 1994 by the Off West Broadway Theater Co. at the Lamb s Little Theater in New York City. It was directed by Barbara Wesner and the setting was designed by Sharon Arthur. The cast was as follows: JONATHAN WORKMAN Dean Hyatt LISA WORKMAN Becky Rogers AGENT FARRAGUT Ron Barnes ANTHONY MARRERO Gino Pena JO LAMBERT Lily Sanders CALVIN PHILLIPS David Storck
- 3 - CAST OF CHARACTERS (4 M, 2 W) JONATHAN WORKMAN - Local minister. Rumpled, thin and nervous. LISA WORKMAN - Minister s wife. Blonde and pretty, full of life, sincere but high-strung. AGENT FRANK FARRAGUT - The definitive detective. Suit, tie and notepad. ANTHONY MARRERO - Tall, animated, out there sense of humor. JO LAMBERT - A missionary. Petite, dark hair, big eyes. In control. CALVIN PHILLIPS - Jo s partner. Tanned, tailored, poised. TIME: The present. PLACE: The pastorate of a small church, Farmingdale, IL. SYNOPSIS OF SCENES ACT I Scene 1: Morning. Scene 2: Several hours later. Scene 3: Late night, that same day. ACT II Scene 1: Mid-morning the next day. Scene 2: Night, the same day.
- 4 - SETTING The library/study of the Workman parsonage. A door in the USR wall leads into the room from the front door and foyer. There is a raised platform SL which holds a small table and chair. On the UPS and SL wall behind the platform are built-in bookcases filled with books and memorabilia. A door on the DSL wall leads to the rest of the house. DS of the door is a small table. There is a window on the DSR wall. UPS of the window is a desk and chair. In the center of the room there is a sofa, a coffee table and two over-stuffed chairs. Table lamps should be placed appropriately. PROPS JONATHAN: Newspaper, briefcase, handcuffs. CALVIN: Small pistol, Bible. LISA: Cup of coffee on saucer, Bible, journal. ANTHONY: Large bandage, pages of script, jogging suit and sneakers, hidden microphone, small black wallet with ID. AGENT FARRAGUT: ID card, notebook and pen, watch, revolver, set of car keys. SFX: Doorbell.
- 5 - ACT I Scene 1 (AT RISE: JONATHAN sits in a chair reading the newspaper. LISA enters with a cup of coffee on a saucer.) LISA: Here s your coffee. (Handing JONATHAN the cup.) Bob, I don t think I m doing a very good job of pulling this off. JONATHAN: Don t worry. You re doing fine. No one suspects I m not your husband. (The DOORBELL rings.) JONATHAN: Better let me get that. (HE puts down his coffee and newspaper.) Were you expecting anyone? (HE exits to the front door.) LISA: No. JONATHAN: (From the other room.) Are you all right? FARRAGUT: I wonder if I might take a moment of your time? JONATHAN: Certainly. ANTHONY: Nice place you have here. JONATHAN: What s this all about? (JONATHAN re-enters with ANTHONY MARRERO, who has a large bandage covering the top of his head, and AGENT FARRAGUT.) FARRAGUT: (Taking out HIS ID card and holding it up for LISA and JONATHAN to see.) I m Frank Farragut. Illinois Bureau of Investigation. JONATHAN: Bureau of...? LISA: (To ANTHONY.) What happened to your head?!! ANTHONY: Are you talking to me or him? (Pointing to FARRAGUT.) LISA: (To ANTHONY.) Why, to you, of course.
- 6 - ANTHONY: You re wasting your time asking me. I have no idea. Ask him. (HE points to FARRAGUT.) FARRAGUT: I gather you do recognize this man? JONATHAN: He s Anthony Marrero. LISA: If there has been a problem, we can vouch for him, officer. We ve known Anthony for... well, for five days now. And in all that time we ve never seen him do anything even slightly suspicious. (To JONATHAN.) Have we, dear? JONATHAN: That s correct. FARRAGUT: I don t suppose you know much about his past? Where he comes from, that sort of thing? LISA: Oh, but we do! We have heard his testimony. And it s wonderful. We have it on tape here somewhere. Would you like to hear it? (SHE begins to look around the room.) If I can only remember where I put it. ANTHONY: My what? LISA: Your testimony! How you became a Mighty man of God! (Pause.) Oh, you re putting me on!! (To FARRAGUT.) He always does that! He has such a sense of humor!!! FARRAGUT: Yeah. Cracks me up. ANTHONY: Oh! That testimony! FARRAGUT: That won t be necessary. I ll just leave his history a blank. (To JONATHAN.) You are...? JONATHAN: Husband and wife. LISA: That s correct. For six years now. It was a beautiful wedding. Would you like to see the photo album? It s... (SHE stops herself.) No. No, no, no. You can t see that. I mean, I sent it out to be... uh... retouched. A company far away in... uh... Alaska. Sorry. FARRAGUT: That s all right. LISA: The pictures weren t very good anyway. I never liked them. (To JONATHAN.) Did you, dear? JONATHAN: Uh... no. No, I didn t.
- 7 - LISA: They made Jonathan look like someone totally different. I mean, they weren t very flattering. So, we re having them re-done to make him look more like he really looks. They should be back in a month or so, if you d like to come back then? FARRAGUT: I m perfectly willing to take your word for it. (To JONATHAN.) Your name is...? JONATHAN: Jonathan Workman. LISA: REVEREND Jonathan Workman. JONATHAN: REVEREND Jonathan... LISA: The THIRD. JONATHAN: The third. FARRAGUT: (Writing in HIS notebook.) Reverend Jonathan Workman... the third. LISA: His father and his grandfather were both Jonathan s before him. Though he really favors his mother more than his father. Of course, it would have been totally ludicrous to have named him Elizabeth, the second. (Pause.) They already have one of those in England, I believe. FARRAGUT: (Writing.) Uh-huh. I think you re right. LISA: He graduated from seminary before we were married. He was in the top ten percent of his class. We have his diploma upstairs in his study if you d like to see it. FARRAGUT: That won t be necessary. This is strictly routine. (To LISA.) And your name, ma am? LISA: Lisa. Lisa Workman. I m not a third or anything like that. (SHE laughs.) I was a Bowman, though. You know, before I was a Workman. I have an old library card if you d like to see it? FARRAGUT: No, no. Thanks. I am not here to do anything other than return this gentleman... (Points to ANTHONY.)... to a place of safety. LISA: May I get anyone a cup of coffee? FARRAGUT: No, thanks. Just a few questions and I m on my way. LISA: Anthony? (Pause.) Anthony? FARRAGUT: (To ANTHONY.) She s talking to you.
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