Act 1 Summary

The play starts with the stage set with a jail cell in the center of the stage. The two cots in the cell are occupied by sleeping men. Aside from this jail cell set the rest of the stage is bare and will be changed throughout the play with minor props and lighting that will be used to suggest shifts in time and location. The play is set in Concord, Massachusetts.

The first lighting cue has moonlight falling on the sleeping form of Henry (Henry David Thoreau), while the other prisoner is in shadow. The lighting on the empty areas of the set is weak to suggest winter. An old man enters with his wife. The man is Ralph Waldo Emerson (Waldo), and his wife is Lydian. As they walk on stage, Waldo is trying to recall the name of a friend of...