Coffee
Freddie and Chuck are hunting for the boss’s secret stash of great coffee. Driven by Freddie’s unbridled ambition and tempered by Chuck’s commitment to kindness to toy animals, the duo inevitably find themselves at the threshold to the place that may hold the answers they seek. They must enter the boss’s office and come face-to-face with Blitzen, the toy reindeer who guards the secrets of great coffee.
Themes and issues
Coffee. Surveillance culture. Reindeer. Bad boss.
Production history
This play has not yet been produced.
Genre
Comedy, Absurdist / Farce
Acts and run time
One act. 10 minutes.
Cast
Three actors (2 men and 1 woman as voice of BLITZEN). Roles may be cast with actors of any race.
Casting note for BLITZEN
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. 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
This play is meant to be accessible to groups with minimal set design capabilities. Consequently, reasonable substitutions may be made as stage furniture and props are intended to help story-telling not create barriers to production.
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.
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.
SpookyB 