Inside Job

This darkly comedic play is about a disgraced corporate executive and his socialite wife. The couple opens their home to a mysterious young woman, who, it turns out, has old scores to settle. Zimmerman casts a stark light on contemporary American mores, using an intense, language-based approach in which the music of everyday speech plays a larger role than situation or plot.

"The play is about the terror of downward mobility," explains Zimmerman, "the panic of losing ground. I'm also interested in how it feels to live in an America that is becoming truly authoritarian."

The Inside Job takes place in a suburban condo whose current tenants, Max and Victoria, are "downwardly mobile." Max's career ended abruptly in an Enron-type scandal, and to pay legal bills he was forced to sell their lavish home in the hills. The couple's fall from grace has been tough on Victoria, such that she hasn't spoken a word in two months. Max is desperate to redress this problem in time for an important party, where he believes they can get their lives back on track. The play opens as Max arrives home with a young woman named Heidi, whose name was the last word to leave Victoria's lips. As it turns out, Heidi knows more than Max initially suspects, and what she reveals sheds light on an American landscape in which terror is active and at large.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• Padua Playwrights
• Guy Zimmerman