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ACT II, SCENE THREE (Directors' Meeting)
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CHARACTERS
Board of Directors of an Electric Company
- CHAIRMAN
FIRST DIRECTOR
SECOND DIRECTOR
THIRD DIRECTOR
FOURTH DIRECTOR
FIFTH DIRECTOR
SIXTH DIRECTOR
(Light on DIRECTORS. Six DIRECTORS are seated back of long cut-out desk, right. CHAIRMAN paces back and forth in front of desk. The others follow him with their eyes, much as spectators at a tennis match follow the ball. An atmosphere of tenseness prevails. The projection is the interior of a board-room.)
CHAIRMAN (finally stops and swings around to DIRECTORS): Well, gentlemen, have you nothing to suggest? Hasn't anybody got an idea? (They just look at him helplessly) This company of ours is one of the soundest in the country. It took years to do that, gentlemen. It didn't happen over night. (Intently) Do you know that Knoxville and Chattanooga have applied to the Government for service? Do you know that municipal plants are being built every day in our territory Do you know that the Government is driving us out of business?
FIRST DIRECTOR: We've taken it to the Courts, Sam.
CHAIRMAN: It's not enough. Suppose we lose. I tell you, it's a different kind of fight we've got to make. This is dog eat dog!
SECOND DIRECTOR: We can't buck the Government, Sam.
CHAIRMAN: We don't have to buck 'em. We can stop 'em another way. (He pauses, then slowly:) Gentlemen, I hereby suggest a good stiff cut in rates — maybe forty per cent. (They all jump up, excitedly.)
SECOND DIRECTOR: We can't do that!
THIRD DIRECTOR: What about our stockholders!
FOURTH DIRECTOR: What about our dividends!
FIFTH DIRECTOR: What about our investment!
SIXTH DIRECTOR: The boys are right, Sam. We're losing ground every day. Our figures are way down. But if we cut forty per cent off, they'll only be three-fifths of what they are now!
ALL: He's right! We can't do it! Suicide, that's what it is!
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CHAIRMAN: Just a moment, gentlemen. I do not propose to cut rates and let it go at that. We've got to do more than that. We've got to get new customers! ["...by November, 1933, TVA was ready to begin construction. It was right then that the Tennessee Electric Power Company developed overnight interest in the district it had neglected for so years." — New York Daily News, August 20, 1936.] And we've got to make the old ones use more juice!
SIXTH DIRECTOR: Where'll we get these new customers?
CHAIRMAN: On the farms. In the towns. We've got to open up the whole valley! (He leans forward) Not only will this help business, but it will establish a right of way, a franchise. The Government won't run lines parallel to anybody else's. If we get in there first, that farm is ours! Do I make myself clear? (A pause as they all look at him) All those in favor?
CHORUS: Aye!
Blackout
Introduction | Essay | Script | Lessons | Resources