Getting Away With Act One
As the house lights dim we hear ominous electronic music, the curtain raises
on the 3 room setting of the 12th floor/penthouse office of Dr. Conrad
Bering. The building is undergoing renovation and is therefore shabby
about the edges. We see (moving from SR to SL) the elevator lobby
including an open elevator shaft blocked by yellow safety tape, the outer
office with couch, chairs, etc. and the inner office with desk, computer, a
day bed and a glimpse of a back hallway. It's a dark and stormy night...
The first two people we meet are Martin Chisholm (John Rubenstein) a
political consultant and probable next mayor of NYC, and Dossie Lustig
(Christine Ebersole) a cocktail hostess, wearing a skimpy dress and
flirting shamlessly with Martin, the newest member of her therapy group
(replacing a member who was so lazy she just stopped coming). They enter
the office (info provided: only members of the group have keys to the
office and elevator), Martin hangs up his coat, breaking a hook off the
coat-rack. Info on the building being repaired, "it's all falling apart",
the rest of the building is abandoned, blah, blah, blah. Eventually other
members of the group show up: Pamela Prideux (Kandis Chappell) a rich
society matron who "accidently" shot her husband; Vassili Laimorgos (Josh
Mostel) an overeating Greek; Gregory Reed (Terrance Mann) the Donald
Trumpish owner of the building (He scares everyone by appearing on the
landing outside the window of the inner office having climbed the fire
escape during one of the periodic blackouts); Dan Gerard (Frankie R.
Faison) an African-American cop, suspended after botching a mission
resulting in the deaths of fellow officers; and Nam-Jun Vuong (Jodi Long) a
whiny Asian-American academic who feels constantly put-upon. Nobody likes
each other very much and there is a lot of verbal jabbing and nastiness
amongst the group.
There is a lot of exposition on people's background and "gee where's the
doctor, it's late". There are several prominent digital clocks on the set.
The time is about 8-8:15pm. There is also discussion of safety at night (why
people take cabs) including mention of a recent murder of a woman in
Central Park. At some point Dossie thinks she sees figures moving about
out on the fire escape. Through the window we see the now infamous
gargoyle.
Interspersed amongst this are brief flashes of scenes downstage showing a
"Young Man" (William Ragsdale) and a woman he picks up in a bar, her name
is Charmaine (Michelle Hurd). Eventually we see the young man kill
Charmaine in a fit of passion after there fun getting high in Central Park
goes too far. We then see him talking to some unseen person, "Nothing I
did was every good enough for you". Later we see him take an overdose of
pills/alcohol, call Dr. Bering's office asking for help, and then die. An
obscured figure discovers him.
Meanwhile back in the office... at some point the set revolves and we see
the lifeless hand of Dr. Bering (Herb Foster) dangling from the upstage
sofa. Eventually this is discovered by the group who decided that to avoid
scandal (since several of them have prominent names in society/politics)
they will figure out the murder themselves. Only people with a key could
have entered the office, it has to be one of them. Based on the Doctor's
schedule the murder had to happen between 7:00pm (the end of Dossie's private
appt) and 8:00pm when Dossie and Martin arrived.
The cop Dan takes over the investigation asking everyone where they were,
etc. Dossie seems to have some gaps in her story but nothing conclusive.
In questioning Martin the group is surprised to learn he was invited to
join the group after only one or two private sessions. All the others were
recommended by their private doctors and only allowed to join after many
private sessions.
There are also several phone calls received by Dr. Bering's answering
machine. From his wife (uncredited voice of Mia Farrow) the other from the
Doctor who
recommended the new patient (uncredited voice of George Furth).
Eventually the audience begins to piece together what happened. The
downstage events with the young man are flashbacks, not events happening
simultaneous with the office action as we believe in the beginning. The
Young Man is Martin's son. When Martin is asked to tell where he was
before the group meeting we see his story acted out, the rest of the cast
freeze.
The clocks jump back to approx 7:35-40. Martin is knocking on the door of
the office (having been allowed in by the doorman downstairs who has an
extra key). Dr. Bering has been interrupted in a liaison with an unseen
woman on his couch. She is let out through the back door, that is only
opened by an electric buzzer. Martin wants to talk about his son but the
Dr. won't give him the info he wants (has the son confessed the murder).
In a fit of anger Martin grabs one of several silver figurines off a table
and bashes the doctor's head in. The doctor lands on the couch, Martin
covers him and puts the figure in his raincoat pocket. He is backing out
of the office and has just reached the elevator lobby, closing the outer
office door when Dossie surprises him. She thinks he was just arriving,
trying to open the door. We see their conversation again, realizing that
the coatrack broke because of the heavy figure in Marin's pocket. They
eventually retake their places within the group. (This was all wonderfully
staged, IMO). Once Martin has returned from his memory and the other
actors reanimate he decides not to tell them his story and instead walks
over to where Dan had placed his police gun on a side table. Martin picks
it up and shoots everyone dead.
End of Act One... I'm not making this up, you know!
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