Houseparty

About the show

This synopsis is compiled from contemporaneous newspaper reviews. Act I (Library of a Fraternity House at Williams College. Late afternoon.) Alan Bradford is hoping to be selected as manager for a college athletic team. His best friend Ronald Evans and Sally Andrews encourage him. Edward Canby is teased and ordered about by various upperclassmen. Alan learns he has not been chosen for the manager's spot. Discouraged, he remains behind in the library when the others go out to a dinner dance. He is alone when Florence crashes the house party. Although she is well-known to many of the young men at Williams, she has chosen Alan as her victim. He has only been with her once, but his naivete, lack of confidence, and wealthy background make him ideal for her purposes. She wants $10,000, or she'll announce her pregnancy by him. He protests that he was only one of many, which she acknowledges, but will not back down. Alan is appalled to think of begging his father for the money, but is alarmed at Florence's threat to scream right there at the house party. As she badgers him, he steps towards her and accidentally knocks her down by the fireplace. Her head strikes a brass andiron, and she dies. Consumed by fear and guilt, Alan stuffs her body into a book cupboard. (Curtain) Act II (Same as Act I. That evening.) The other fraternity brothers and their guests enter the library. They spend a while in general conversation, with the brothers objecting to their guests' use of the term "frat". Alan's friends notice his tense state and peculiar remarks. Mrs. Milligan is brought in by James; she is looking for her daughter Florence, whose own state of mind has been unsettled of late. Not having seen her, the others cannot offer any information, while Alan frets in silence. Someone suggests a party game, and during the course of this a dictionary is sought to resolve a point. As the only dictionary is in the book cupboard, it is about to be opened when Alan breaks down and confesses being responsible for her death. (Curtain) Act III (Same as Act I. Six months later.) Alan returns to the fraternity house for the first time in six months, having been acquitted in an off-stage trial. Ostensibly there to collect his personal items before leaving with his family for a European holiday, he has actually come to brood at the site of the death. Secretly, he has made up his mind to commit suicide. But Ronald has sensed his torment, and with careful sympathy leads from black thoughts and instills hope for his recovery. (Curtain)