The House

The House is about the William’s family and how they become the richest family in Connecticut.
As the only living member left, Jeanie is able to keep their town alive. When a stranger comes
into town looking for their long lost sister, will Jeanie welcome them into her home be a blessing
and a welcome come home or her unfortunate end?

Cast
Depending on casting characters can be played by male or female. Pronouns will change. Male is
more than welcome to play female and female can play male.

Jeanie Willams/Gene Williams Early 40’s

Selena George/Sal George Early 30’s

Detective Frank 30’s or older

Act 1
The lights come on to see an empty living room stylized to be in the 1940’s with a couch center
age and a chair on stage left. A radio is playing light Jazz. A door is seen center stage and near
stage left.

Frank walks on stage right to center stage:

Frank: Good evening audience and Welcome to the show! We are very pleased and delighted to
have you here. I am Detective Frank, and you are in for a treat. I have a feeling you are not
expecting what you are about to see. (clock strikes 5:00). I do not want to give much away in the
beginning, I do however want to warn you. Things are not as they seem. (Jeanie enters through
stage left door holing tray of tea, humming to the jazz, making he way toward the couch). This is
Jeanie. Her home gifted to her by her late family, the Williams. You’ll learn more about them in a
little while. (winks, moves back into the background stage right).

Jeanie: (sitting on couch and making herself a cup of tea) 5 o’clock already, I can’t believe it. It
has been a rather strange week. I would love for something exciting to happen this weekend
instead of another predictable time of going into town and making huge sales. But it is just like
my family; The Williams to continue to make lots of money. Father and mother would be proud.
But how I wish I had someone to share all of this wealth with. (radio turns to static and a knock
is heard at the door). What peculiar timing that is. (gets up and answers door)

 Doors opens and there is thunder and lighting and the sound of a rainstorm. Selena is standing
at door completely soaked with a purse and wet newspaper.

Jeanie: Oh my goodness you poor thing, please come in, let me grab you a towel and some
warm clothes.

Selena: Thank you, you are too kind.

Jeanie goes off stage left and come back a towel, and a new dress

Jeanie: Here, let me take that (takes the purse and newspaper), and you can go behind the
changing curtain and dry off and change into this dress. I will get another cup for tea. (Selena
moves stage left and Jeanie places purse on couch and looks questionably at the newspaper and
moves to the kitchen).

Jazz music starts to play again

Selena renters in the new dress and slowly walk about the living room.

Jeanie re-enters with tea cup. Sits back on couch watching Selena

Radio: Breaking news, I repeat Breaking news! There is a ma…

Selena quick turns off radio and smiles shyly at Jeanie

Selena: I’m sorry the music was giving me a bit of a headache, I hope you don’t mind that I
turned it off.

Jeanie: Oh no not at all. Please sit down. (Selena sits) Let me make you a cup of tea to help
warm you up. That storm seemed to come out of nowhere. (makes tea)

Selena: Tea would be wonderful. And Yes, the storm popped up out of no where. I was just
walking along the road when all of a sudden it started raining. I thought I was going to be stuck
in a storm until I saw your house and hoped that someone was home. Thank you for letting me
in.

Jeanie: Where are you coming from? It is a long walk from town or to anywhere really. And I
don’t believe I have seen you at the market before.

Selena: I just moved here. I am looking for my long lost sister. I am terribly sorry I just realized I
never introduced myself. My name is (pause) Selena. George. (starts using a southern accent)
Selena George. I just moved here from Mississippi, and was looking to get aquatinted with the
town.

 Jeanie: My! That is a trip Mississippi to Connecticut. And a long lost sister, I would love to find
out that I had a long lost sister. Please tell me how you found out about her.

Selena: Well it all happened very fast. You see my parents died when I was just a baby. Only
months old. I had been kept a secret so my older sisters Jeanie had no idea that I even existed.
After my parents death, Jeanie had moved here to Connecticut and I was kept in Mississippi to
be raised by a pig farmer. Tom. Banks. Growing up on the farm it never seemed to fit right with
who I was deep down as a person. I always felt like there was a part of me missing and that I
needed to find out who I really was. When I turned 27 Tom sat me down and told me everything.
How my parented died and that I had a long lost sister. I was sad and excited to know that I had a
family before this one and a sister that possibly did not even know that I was alive. I made years
worth of plans. How to get to Connecticut and if she would even possible still be there. And thats
how I got here. In your house. Looking to find my long lost sister. Have you heard of her before?

Jeanie: I’m very sorry I have never heard of anyone named Jeanie George here. It much have
been very difficult to learn that you had a family that was taken from you. I do hope you find her.

Selena: What about your family. You must have a husband and many kids living with you in this
house.

Jeanie: Oh, no. It has only ever been me and my parents. William Williams and Wendy
Williams. Have you heard of the Williams before?

Selena: No, please do tell me of the Williams.

Jeanie: In 1863 my family moved to Windsor, Connecticut to start a new life. They originally
lived in Iowa and had nothing but their dreams to keep them afloat. You see their dream was to
run a town such as this. Be the provider for all services needed. They build this house from the
ground up and from then on started opening shops to sell shoes, clothes, and tools. After I was
born my parents wanted to retire so that we could spend all the time together they wanted. They
wants us to have a much time together as possible. When I turned 23, I was getting ready to be
married to congressman Richard Smith, when he suddenly died one night in his home. I had
found him the next morning with his face in his bowl of potato soup. After Richard’s death I
decided to never get married and to continue to spend time with my parents and I started
working. My parents showed me everything I needed to know about the Williams business and I
have been doing it ever since.

Selena: I am very sorry to hear about your almost husband. That much have been very difficult.
But what happened to your parents? You started working for them and then what? Do they live
somewhere special? Maybe a current address you have available?

Thunder sounds and a large knock at the door.

Selena and Jeanie are startled by the sound

Jeanie: Goodness me! Who could that be? (clock strikes 6) And it is almost dinner time. Oh,
Selena you must stay for dinner. I want to hear more about your long lost sister and to all the
places you have been. (goes and answers door)

Door opens to find Detective Frank with an umbrella at the door.

Detective Frank: Jeanie! Oh thank goodness you’re home.

Selena makes a concerned face towards audience. Mouthing the words “Jeanie”

Jeanie: Detective Frank come in. Is everything alright you look as if you have seen a ghost.

Frank: I don’t want to frighten you be there has been…(looks over and see Selena on the couch)
some trouble in town. It might be a good idea to go in tomorrow and fix the problem that is there.
(Selena stands Frank walks over) Hello I am Detective Frank I have solved every mystery or
case that has come to Connecticut. But you my dear do not look like a local. Could I possibly
help you find your way?

Jeanie: Frank this is Selena George. (motions them to sit) She is here looking for her long lost
sister. Maybe you could help her! Selena you would find your sister in no time, wouldn’t that be
wonderful? What do you say?

Selena: Oh I could not do that to Detective Frank he seems to be far too busy and I would not
want to take him away from his work.

Jeanie: Frank please, it would be so great if Selena could find her sister. You two talk it over I’m
going to go check on the soup I have been making all day. I’ll be back with a couple of bowls.
Frank you will stay. (Frank nods) Good! (exits stage left)

Uncomfortable silence between Selena and Frank.

Selena: (southern accent gone, and talking in hushed tone)What are you doing here? You are
going to ruin everything!

Frank: Well the rain ruined everything. Your plan of “oh I had been walking for such a long
time I was looking for a place to rest and before I knew it I was here” clearly didn’t work? Have
you found out anything?

Selena: The rain gave me a quicker way in then 'I was tired’. I found out that her husband
“Richard Smith” died while eating soup. Yes, sweetie I know that I was the one that poisoned the

 no good money stealing bum. Now tell me about your parents. I was just about to get their
information when you knocked on the door ruining everything. Also our acting is absolutely
horrible. You’ve been here for 15 years and you know nothing about her family other than they
used to run the town?!

Frank: I was building character, making sure that the people of the town trusted me. Which they
do.

Selena: Forget it. We need to get more information or things are not going to end well for Ms.
Jeanie Williams.

Black out End Act 1

Questions/Notes

Is Selena’s southern accent bad? Where is she from originally? - She’s from Pennsylvania,
lovely.

Where’s Frank from originally? - Also Pennsylvania. Even better. Both are from Chester, part of
the greater Philadelphia area.

Ruth says that the fake accents can be good or bad depending on how the production wants
everything to read to the audience. While I do like that idea in theory, it makes things more
difficult potentially in terms of wording/grammar. Somebody who’s really good at faking an
accent will more than likely also be good at changing their sentence structure and vocabulary
usage to match that fake accent. Somebody who’s bad at an accent will more than likely use the
wrong grammar. Make sense? So that might have to be a writer’s choice, but take what I say with
a grain of salt because I’m not really a writer. I am obsessed with linguistics though.

I was thinking that, potentially, we (you) could use specific voicing and accent changes to
enhance the story line. Makes it more interesting, you know? It’s more intense/suspenseful/
mysterious if Frank were to come in with a flawless Mid-Atlantic accent and sentence structure
only to suddenly switch to his native Philadelphia accent when he talks to Selena. Could be
interesting to have Selena’s accent be good or bad since you add that she switches to southern
Shows that she’s somewhat ill prepared. She could start with Philly, switch to a bad southern,

 then back to Philly. Even though she says their acting is horrible, she specifically references
Frank not knowing enough about the fam, but he says he spent years working over the
townspeople, so part of that would be being able to sell a Connecticut detective character, so his
voice would prolly be good. So basically, I think it would be better to make the accent choice as
the writer.

Jeanie would more than likely be speaking with a Mid-Atlantic dialect considering her
upperclass upbringing. The lines should reflect that - so let me put a little more research into that
and maybe put some links in this lil notes section.

I think that the skeleton is there. You’ve set up a really interesting story and the gist of the
dialogue really shows that. I think the next step (besides finishing the whole first draft) needs to
be changing some of the specific wording. I think the sentences are perfect and I don’t want to
change what they say overall or what they mean, I just want to play with the wording. So really
that’s nothing major, it’s literally just adding specific dialect to sell the character’s backstories a
little bit, ya know? I’m invested though. I def wouldn’t be typing up this much if I didn’t really
really like it.

Mid-Atlantic/Transatlantic Dialect:

So the Mid-Atlantic accent is a very unique, very specific dialect that was adopted among the
elite society in America around this time period. So think about a stereotypical rich person. It’s a
blend of British (specifically Received Pronunciation - British royalty) and American English.
RP is where the “posh” sounds come from. If you want to hear specific examples of Mid-
Atlantic, check out this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aI8Dn8HHHrk

As she explains in the video, this woman is not a dialect coach, but she’s well researched and her
speech pattern is flawless. If you can write with a voice like this in mind, I think it would
enhance your already good story. If you want more examples that would be more immersive than
a breakdown of the accent, I suggest watching any old movie. Most actors used this voice back
in the 40s. Fun fact, this isn’t a native accent of any region at all. It was made up by some
Australian dude who decided that the world needed a universal English accent and that his idea
of what that would be is the most correct way of speaking. People just went along with it for
some reason and it caught on quickly considering all of the upperclass adopted it as well as stage
and screen actors alike. Pretty cool.

V Lubow does an excellent job of breaking down the accent, but here’s a lil breakdown in
writing:

Mid-Atlantic is non-rhotic; meaning the r’s at the end of a word (car, bar, near, there, etc…)
aren’t pronounced. So car sounds like cah and so on and so forth. If a posh British person
wouldn’t pronounce the r in any given word, neither would a Trans Atlantic speaker.

The speaker would have a relaxed, yet narrow mouth shape that doesn’t project it’s vowels, but
really emphasizes consonants. Makes for an interesting sound. Like it’s British but with an
American twist that says, “We’re better than everyone else, including royalty.” So yeah. The
grammar would be very different for Jeanie than it would be for Selena and Frank’s native
Philadelphia. Jeanie would most likely use lots of big words and speak with disgustingly flawless
grammar (which is BORING in real life. Half the fun of language is playing with it and making
it unique, not following all the rules all the time).

Another feature of upperclass is that they are less likely to use contractions, which is something
that you’ve done a REALLY good job of for Jeanie! Hell yes! Being posh, she’s more likely to
say, “you are,” instead of, “you’re,” and, “it is,” instead of, “It’s,” and so on and so forth.

Philadelphia Accent

Most Philadelphians, unlike the upper class Mid-Atlantic speakers, speak with a rhotic accent,
meaning you do pronounce the r at the end of words like car, far, near, there, etc… think of the
way you and I would say those words.

One cool thing about the Philly accent is that it seems to have always resisted the “Cot-Caught
Merger” that a lot of dialects around it adopted. Mid-Atlantic has too actually, I forgot to mention
that. So both accents say cot and caught differently. You and I would pronounce them the same.
“I caught the bad guy,” and, “I have a cot you can sleep on” would both be pronounced with the
same sound if you and I were to say them, however, to both a Philadelphian and Mid-Atlantic
speaker, they would be pronounced differently. Cot vs Cawt (phonetically speaking/spelling).
That one will be easier to explain over FaceTime.