Produced by Charles Aldarondo and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team THE POT BOILER A COMEDY IN FOUR ACTS By Upton Sinclair Edited by E. Haldeman Julius CHARACTERS IN THE "REAL-PLAY" Will ............................. The author Peggy ................Joint author and critic Bill ..................... Their son (aged 8) Dad ............................ Will's father Schmidt......................... The grocer The Policeman. The Landlady. CHARACTERS IN THE "PLAY-PLAY" Jack ........................ The adventurer Bob ............................. His cousin Dad .............................. His father Jessie.............................. His sister Gladys .......................... His fiancee Belle ............................. A waitress Dolly ............................. Her sister Bill .........................A street gamin Schmidt ................ A restaurant keeper The Policeman. The Landlady. A snow shoveller. A butler. Note: The characters of Dad, Bill, Schmidt, the Landlady and the Policeman are the same in the Real and the Play-play. The character of Jack is played by Will, and that of Belle by Peggy. THE POT BOILER ACT I. SCENE.--_A transparent curtain of net extends across the stage from right to left, about six feet back of the foot-lights. Throughout the text, what goes on in front of this curtain is referred to as the Real-play; what goes on behind the curtain is the Play-play. Upon the sides of the curtain, Right and Left, is painted a representation of an attic room in a tenement house. The curtain becomes thin, practically nothing at center, so the audience sees the main action of the Play-play clearly. At Right in the Real-play is a window opening on a fire-escape, and in front of the window a cot where the child sleeps. At Left in the Real-play is a window, an entrance door, a flat-topped desk and two chairs. This setting of the Real-play remains unchanged throughout the four acts._ _The scenes of the Play-play change with each act. For Act I the set is a drawing-room in a wealthy old New York home, entrances Right-center and Left. Both front and rear scenes are lighted by many small lights, which can be turned off a few at a time, so that one scene or the other fades slowly. When the Real-play is in full light, the Play-play is dark and invisible. When the front scene is entirely dark, we see the Play-play, slightly veiled at the sides. In case of some rude interruption, the dream is gone in a flash, and the reality of the garret surrounds us. The text calls for numerous quick changes of three of the characters from the Real-play to the Play-play and back. Dialogue and business have been provided at these places to permit the changes._ AT RISE.--_The Real-play, showing_ PEGGY _putting_ BILL _to bed; she is young and pretty, he is a bright but frail child._ _Bill._ Say, Peggy!