Accountable

A missing bag.
A town full of answers.

It’s Thursday night at the Elks lodge. Dennis Pruitt is laughing at a joke he can’t quite retell. His father, Jacob, is counting money. Frank Moss is watching the parking lot.

Next door, Duke Talbot reports twenty-two thousand dollars missing from his pawn shop. Stan Szabo takes the report between crossword clues. Duke knows who to blame. Stan would rather nothing happened.

Outside, Duke’s younger brother Cody sits in a parked car with a bank bag on the passenger seat. He rehearses what he might say, unfolds a road map, and counts the money.

Three spaces stay alive at once. The audience can see what the people in them cannot.

The joke travels.
The truth doesn’t.

The comedy comes from ordinary local business: a fish fry, a crossword, a police officer finishing his ice cream, a father who keeps counting while his son laughs.

Phone calls, laughter, and the lodge P.A. cross the boundaries between the spaces. Information moves less freely. Each man has part of the story, and each has a reason to stop looking.

Accountable returns to the town of Unredeemed and Contestable, twenty years earlier. It can stand alone, or close the three-play evening Collateral Collection.

Small furnishings.
Light does the rest.

The three locations need to be distinct, but they do not need to be built. A desk and chairs, a small counter, and two chairs suggesting a car can establish the whole playing space. Lighting carries the audience from one area to another; no walls or flats are required.

All three playing areas remain occupied throughout. When the light moves, the other spaces continue in low light and silence. Sound carries between them; there is no blackout until the end.

Cast

Six male actors. No doubling within this play; all six are on stage throughout. Two additional voices may be prerecorded or performed offstage by crew.

Set

Three adjacent playing areas suggested by small pieces of furniture and lighting. No constructed rooms, walls, flats, or built car are required; two chairs can suggest the car.

Collection transition

When presented after Contestable, the kitchen furnishings can be cleared or rearranged to establish the lodge office and outstation, with two chairs added for the car. The change can be brief and simple; the simultaneous action comes from the actors and lighting, rather than elaborate scenery.

Sound & light

Lodge P.A., telephone, police radio, car engine and turn signal; headlights and passing red-and-blue light.

Key props

A zippered bank bag, cash, a folding road map, and a knife with a doubled mark on its grip.