Act I, Scene 1 Summary

The setting is the Footlights Club which is a club for girls of the stage.

It is a brownstone house in the West 50s in New York City. The living room is large and comfortable. Girls are coming home from matinees and job hunting and soon will be going out again for dinner dates. The scene begins with two girls. Olga Brandt, is at the piano. Bernice Nieymer is sitting at the desk. Olga is playing Chopin's Nocturne in F minor. Another girl, Susan Paige enters and says hello but Olga keeps playing.

Susan is persistent. She continues to talk, asking Olga what she's playing and how she learned to play so well. Olga is annoyed by the disruption. Practice, she tells Susan, lots of practice. The telephone rings just as the maid, Mattie, is descending the stairs. Mattie...