Break Time

Freddie and Chuck confront one of the perennial mysteries of the company coffee station: how can the boss brew wonderful coffee but never leave behind the pods? Driven by Freddie’s ambition and Chuck’s compassion for toy animals, they must enter the boss’s office to find the answer. Once they go through that door, they come face-to-face with Blitzen the guard reindeer who holds the key to the knowledge they seek.

Themes and issues

Coffee. Surveillance culture. Reindeer. Bad boss.

Production history

This play has not yet been produced.

Genre

Comedy, satire.

Acts and run time

One act, approximately 28 minutes.

Cast

Three actors (2 men and 1 woman). Roles may be cast with actors of any race.

Casting note for BLITZEN – prerecorded, voice-over or live from off stage

BLITZEN is a toy reindeer that silently observes the goings-on in the boss’s office and only engages with FREDDIE and CHUCK when they inadvertently say her wake word “Blitzen.” Like the audience, FREDDIE and CHUCK are unaware that BLITZEN contains a camera, a microphone and the ability to record audio and video and transfer files to the company’s network Cloud storage. For stage purposes, a simple toy reindeer will do. CHUCK notices that BLITZEN’s eyes flash. If the effect can be created, it’s helpful but not critical as long as the actor “sees” BLITZEN’s eyes flash on cue. BLITZEN’s lines can be prerecorded and delivered on cue or simply spoken by an actor from an off-stage position with a mic.

The fun part of BLITZEN’s character is that the audience doesn’t know about her sophisticated surveillance capabilities until later in the play.

Production note

Set and props are best kept to a minimum to encourage the theatricality of the actors in performance. See the sketch for the essential set features and props.

Simplified stage sketch

Performance rights

You may download a perusal copy of this copyrighted play for review. Performance rights inquiries to the playwright at rights@rbws.ca or the Playwrights Guild of Canada at playwrightsguild.ca.