Suitable for Hanging

by  Payton, Donald

Published: 1971

Acts: 3

Language:

Category:

Acts: 3
Male Roles: 6
Female Roles: 7
Flexible Roles: 0
Has Chorus/Extras: No

Synopsis

Charlie is a lucky man. He’s marrying Abby on Friday and he’s a lab assistant to Professors Gruber and Zapotka, two zany scientists who are on the verge of a phenomenal discovery. Like any prospective bridegroom, Charlie’s in a dither on his wedding day. However, the dither turns into a dazed dilemma when Charlie’s roommate, Sam, tells him that his wedding was yesterday and everybody was there except the groom. CHARLIE MISSED HIS WEDDING! As it turns out, he missed one other little item of importance: one whole day of his life. It’s Saturday and Charlie cannot account for Friday. Suddenly, that isn’t all Charlie can’t remember as he discovers the body of a mysterious stranger in his closet, two new inhabitants in his apartment (a dazzling scatterbrain named Tina and a sultry beauty named Hilga), and a bag filled with $100,000. Before long, he’s confronted by a distraught fiancée, her furious mother, and the gruesome evidence that he’s a murderer, thief, and debonair collector of two gorgeous beauties. What Charlie doesn’t know is that (1), the professors decided to use him as a “guinea pig” in their new experiment (to perfect a truth serum that renders people incapable of telling lies, or (2), the beauties are foreign agents in pursuit of the secret formula, and (3), they are also masters in the ancient art of hypnosis. Ultimately, Charlie gets the girl along with the goods on the two arch spies, but not before everybody accidentally has a “go” at the truth serum and the professors make a startling discovery! One interior set.