Where Do All the Lost Socks Go?: A Comedy of Missed Opportunities

By Wm. Matthew Graphman

Ms. Emma runs a small laundry known in the community as the Lost Sock. She has a lot of regular customers, and her staff is top of the line, but some recent issues with the bank have left her and her employees with some doubts about the future of the laundry. News around town spreads of a recent robbery as a stranger, who carries with him a bag full of questions, pays the Lost Sock a visit. Ms. Emma, in a last-ditch effort to save her precious Laundromat, has purchased a new supersized machine to help the community with their large-volume laundry needs. All this cultivates into a hilarious look at how life brings us all kinds of opportunities, some of which we take and others we misplace completely.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Apr 28, 2016
• ISBN: 9781524605568

Wm. Matthew Graphman

Matthew Graphman is a twenty-five-year veteran in the information technology world. He studied writing, drama, as well as computers while attending Bob Jones University in the late 80’s and early 90’s. There he met his wife, Wendy, of twenty-five years and started a family. He currently resides in Bloomington, Indiana with his wife and children, Kathryn (Kat) and Ethan. His oldest son, Sean, is married and lives on the East Coast. Matthew has long been a fan of fantasy fiction. His first attempt at writing was brought on by his roommates in college. As a result, he wrote his first - still unpublished - fantasy novel. After graduating, Matthew continued his writing exploits, but his focus was mostly around theater. After developing a series of children’s skits in the 2000’s, he was encouraged to take the skits and convert them into a series of children’s chapter books. To date, he has written five of the fifteen stories in the “Chel & Riley Adventures” series. Taking a break from creating children’s fiction and drama, Matthew decided to reach back, at the request from his daughter Kat, and create a fantasy world that mixed all of her favorite thematic elements. This series is currently outlined to cover five volumes; however, he is convinced that there could be many more stories that evolve out of this new universe. Matthew is a recent winner of the 2016 and 2017 NaNoWriMo challenge. He is currently working on a board game based upon the Silverwood story along with several other projects.

Book preview

© 2016 Wm. Matthew Graphman. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 04/27/2016

ISBN: 978-1-5246-0557-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5246-0556-8 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

www.matthewgraphman.com

Contents

ACT 1

Scene 1

Act 1

Scene 2

ACT 2

Scene 1

Act 2

Scene 2: Original Ending

Act 2

Scene 3

Act 2

Scene 2: Alternate Ending

Appendix A Activities

Performance Requirements

This product is provided as a reader copy only. This product is intended to be used for personal entertainment or assessment of production viability. No portion of this product may be used in actual performance preparation without first securing a performance license from the author.

Performance License: $25.00 First Performance / $10.00 Additional Performance

To request a performance contract, please contact the author via email at: [e-mail] or by mail at: 1088 W. Burma Rd. Bloomington, IN 47404

Cast of Characters:

• Emma – Elderly woman, and owner of the Missing Right Sock Laundry

• Tracy – Younger woman and counter clerk at the laundry

• Charles Randolph (Chuck) – Young boy who frequents the laundry to play the aging pinball machine and occasionally help out

• Bob – Maintenance guy for the laundry – middle aged and a bit cranky

• Swifty (Robber) – A lone bank robber, on the loose trying to hide from the police

• Sandy – Police woman who uses the laundry and is a regular

• Erin – Charles mom and regular at the laundry, she is single.

• Mr. Tom Eccleston - The bank manager

Synopsis:

Ms. Emma runs a small laundry known in the community as the Lost Sock. She has a lot of regular customers and her staff is top of the line, but some recent issues with the bank has left her and her employees with some doubts about the future of the laundry. News around town spreads of a recent robbery. And in comes a stranger who carries with him a bag full of questions. Ms. Emma in a last ditch effort to save her precious Laundromat has purchased a new super-sized machine to help the community with their large volume laundry needs. All of this cultivates into a hilarious look at how life brings us all kinds of opportunities, some of which we take and others we miss completely.

Setting:

Inside the Lost Sock Laundry.

Stage:

The stage is partitioned in the middle by a serving window which separates the Laundromat from the office area. SL is the main entrance. At center stage is the newly installed Wash-O-Matic, and adjacent to that is the entrance to the maintenance room behind the machines. Beside the serving window is the ancient pinball machine. Inside the office are desk and chairs, a computer and a door leading off to storage closet.

Directors Notes:

This play is designed to work either as a stand-a-lone drama or as a larger dinner theater style production. The activities included support the dinner theater implementation and should not be considered for a dramatic performance. The alternate endings can be utilized in either type of performance. The director should consider before the start of rehearsals how to handle the various endings. If the director chooses to incorporate both endings, they should be implemented on a performance by performance basis. It is not recommended that both endings be performed on a single given performance. Using the break between Acts, the director could petition the audience to the style of ending they wish to see. This can be handled through the question: Is Swifty a robber? The answer would then drive which ending the audience should see.

Dinner Theater:

Order of Events

Times below are suggestions.

Doors Open – Seating Begins (15 – 30 minutes)

Dinner is Served (45 minutes to 60 minutes)

Act 1 Scene 1

Sock Mismatch Game (10 minutes)

Act 1 Scene 2

Dessert is Served, Ballot for Ending Choice (20 - 30 minutes)

Act 2 Scene 1

Clothes Basket-ball Game (10 minutes)

Act 2 Scene 2

If Swifty is Robber

Washingmachine Relay Game (5 minutes)

Act 2 Scene 3

ACT 1

Scene 1

It is early morning at the laundry. When the scene opens, the audience will notice that the stage is broken into two sections separated by service window and partial wall. The one side – stage left - is the customer side building. This area contains many washing machines, benches or chairs for patrons; a few tables with magazines scattered on them; a bookshelf with miscellaneous books, puzzles and games to