Metropolitan Playhouse
Virtual Playhouse
Presents
A Screened Reading
of

THE PARLOR CAR
Written by William Dean Howells

Featuring
MELODY BATES, JED PETERSON, & STU RICHEL

Directed by ALEX ROE

www.metropolitanplayhouse.org/virtualplayhouse

May 9, 2020 at 8 p.m.

This one-act farce was first printed as a magazine story in 1876. A man and a woman find themselves alone in a train car going to Schenectady, NY. The young lady tries to open the window beside her, but it slams shut unexpectedly, trapping her skirt. Unable to move or open the window to free herself, she calls out for help to the gentleman passenger. He is fast asleep, his hat covering his face.

Startled awake, he comes to her aid. Oh no! He is her ex-fiance! What a dreadful coincidence. She accepts his help, but he is unable to free her. She orders him back to his seat. She is vexed with him. Very vexed. Being a male, he has no idea why. “What did I do?” he asks. “You know what you did!” Yes, one of those situations. The dialog continues thusly, frequently interrupted by bursts of ladylike sobbing, childish pouting, and fluttering eyelashes.

He continues to beg her for a reason. She refuses to answer. Finally the gloves come off and he calls her a “humbug”! Take that, missy. Now she is a shocked, pouty, vexed, weeping maiden in distress.

Their railway car comes to a stop. Being the rearmost, it has come uncoupled from the rest of the train. Will their train return for them? Will they be annihilated by a random oncoming train? Fear unites them. Back together at last, they await their fate.

This was gripping state-of-the-art stuff back in 1876. The author, William Dean Howells, was extremely famous in his day. Best known for his “campaign biography” of Abraham Lincoln, he went on to be an author of immense scope, writing plays, articles, and books. After his death in 1920, his name gradually faded from mass popularity, but he remains revered and studied even today by literary scholars.

This production was a perfect fit for virtual presentation on Zoom. A little technical magic even allowed the lovers to kiss, though the actors were all performing from their homes.

-Karen D’Onofrio-