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Eugene Walter. The Easiest Way
The Easiest Way
Table of Contents
EUGENE WALTER
DAVID BELASCO'S STUYVESANT THEATRE
DAVID BELASCO PRESENTS FRANCES STARR—IN—THE EASIEST WAY
CHARACTERS OF THE PLAY. JOHN MADISON EDWARD H. ROBINS. WILLARD BROCKTON JOSEPH KILCOUR. JIM WESTON WILLIAM SAMPSON. LAURA MURDOCK FRANCES STARR. ELFIE ST. CLAIR LAURA NELSON HALL. ANNIE EMMA DUNN
PROGRAM CONTINUED
SYNOPSIS. ACT I.—Mrs. William's ranch house or country home, perched on the side of the Ute Pass, near Colorado Springs, Colorado. Time—Late in an August afternoon. ACT II.—Laura Murdock's furnished room, second story, back. New York. Time—Six months later. ACT III.—Laura Murdock's apartments in an expensive hotel. New York. Time—Two months later. In the morning. ACT IV.—The same at Act III. Time—The same afternoon
PROGRAM CONTINUED ON SECOND PAGE FOLLOWING. PROGRAM CONTINUED
THE EASIEST WAY
AN AMERICAN PLAY CONCERNING A. PARTICULAR PHASE OF. NEW YORK LIFE. IN FOUR ACTS AND FOUR SCENES
1908 BY EUGENE WALTER
CHARACTERS
LAURA MURDOCK. ELFIE ST. CLAIR. ANNIE. WILLARD BROCKTON. JOHN MADISON. JIM WESTON. DESCRIPTION OF CHARACTERS
SYNOPSIS
ACT I. Mrs. Williams' Ranch House or Country Home, perched on the side of Ute Pass, near Colorado Springs, Colorado
ACT II. Laura Murdock's furnished Room, second story back, New York
ACT III. Laura Murdock's Apartments in an expensive Hotel
ACT IV. Laura Murdock's Apartments. The same as Act III
THE EASIEST WAY
ACT I. SCENE. The scene is that of the summer country ranch house of MRS. WILLIAMS, a friend of LAURA MURDOCK'S, and a prominent society woman of Denver, perched on the side of Ute Pass, near Colorado Springs. The house is one of unusual pretentiousness, and, to a person not conversant with conditions as they exist in this part of Colorado, the idea might be that such magnificence could not obtain in such a locality. At the left of stage the house rises in the form of a turret, built of rough stone of a brown hue, two stories high, and projecting a quarter of the way out on the stage. The door leads to a small elliptical terrace built of stone, with heavy benches of Greek design, strewn cushions, while over the top of one part of this terrace is suspended a canopy made from a Navajo blanket. The terrace is supposed to extend almost to the right of stage, and here it stops. The stage must be cut here so that the entrance of JOHN can give the illusion that he is coming up a steep declivity or a long flight of stairs. There are chairs at right and left, and a small table at left. There are trailing vines around the balustrade of the terrace, and the whole setting must convey the idea of quiet wealth. Up stage is supposed to be the part of the terrace overlooking the cañon, a sheer drop of two thousand feet, while over in the distance, as if across the cañon, one can see the rolling foot-hills and lofty peaks of the Rockies, with Pike's Peak in the distance, snow-capped and colossal. It is late in the afternoon, and, as the scene progresses, the quick twilight of a cañon, beautiful in its tints of purple and amber, becomes later pitch black, and the curtain goes down on an absolutely black stage. The cyclorama, or semi-cyclorama, must give the perspective of greater distances, and be so painted that the various tints of twilight may be shown
CURTAIN. ACT II
SCENE. Six months have elapsed. The furnished room of LAURA MURDOCK, second story back of an ordinary, cheap theatrical lodging-house in the theatre district of New York. The house is evidently of a type of the old-fashioned brown-stone front, with high ceilings, dingy walls, and long, rather insecure windows. The woodwork is depressingly dark. The ceiling is cracked, the paper is old and spotted and in places loose. There is a door leading to the hallway. There is a large old-fashioned wardrobe in which are hung a few old clothes, most of them a good deal worn and shabby, showing that the owner—LAURA MURDOCK—has had a rather hard time of it since leaving Colorado in the first act. The doors of this wardrobe must be equipped with springs so they will open outward, and also furnished with wires so they can be controlled from the back. This is absolutely necessary, owing to "business" which is done during the progress of the act. The drawer in the bottom of the wardrobe is open at rise. This is filled with a lot of rumpled, tissue-paper and other rubbish. An old pair of shoes is seen at the upper end of the wardrobe on the floor. There is an armchair over which is thrown an ordinary kimono, and on top of the wardrobe are a number of magazines and old books, and an unused parasol wrapped up in tissue paper
CURTAIN. ACT III
SCENE. Two months have elapsed. The scene is at BROCKTON'S apartment in a hotel such as is not over particular concerning the relations of its tenants. There are a number of these hotels throughout the theatre district of New York, and, as a rule, one will find them usually of the same type. The room in which this scene is placed is that of the general living-room in one of the handsomest apartments in the building. The prevailing colour is green, and there is nothing particularly gaudy about the general furnishings. They are in good taste, but without the variety of arrangement and ornamentation which would naturally obtain in a room occupied by people a bit more particular concerning their surroundings. Down stage is a table about three feet square which can be used not only as a general centre-table, but also for service while the occupants are eating. There is a breakfast service on this table, and also a tray and stand behind it. There is a chair at either side of the table, and at right coming up stage, the room turns at a sharp angle of thirty-five degrees, and this space is largely taken up by a large doorway. This is equipped with sliding-doors and hung with green portières, which are handsome and in harmony with the general scheme of the furnishings of the room. This entrance is to the sleeping-room of the apartments
CURTAIN, SLOW. ACT IV
SCENE. The same scene as Act III. It is about two o'clock in the afternoon
