The Archival History Society has a leaking roof, nine thousand dollars in the account, a two-dollar membership fee, forty-seven unread emails from the heritage compliance office, and a bucket on the table. Saffron the structural engineer has three options. Claudia the treasurer is appalled by all of them.
Across four scenes, the Society navigates an engineering assessment, a compliance crisis, an asbestos discovery, and a fundraising gala called Pioneers and Parasols, interrupted at a critical moment by the return of Constance, the formidable former president, who has spent her medical leave developing a gala concept and researching appropriate membership fees.
A full-length ensemble comedy about volunteer governance, institutional loyalty, and the people who show up to the meetings. Featuring: one mayor who means well, one secretary who cannot read her own handwriting, and one land survey from 1887 with a very unflattering sketch in the margins.
Keywords: Historical society, small town, ensemble, comedy, volunteer, historical, heritage preservation
Matters Arising is a new work and has not yet received a professional or amateur production. The playwright welcomes inquiries regarding world premiere rights. Â The play is well suited to regional theatre companies with an interest in ensemble comedy and to community theatre organizations, where the subject matter: volunteer boards, heritage preservation, institutional memory, will resonate with particular immediacy. The ten-character ensemble makes it an attractive production for companies with a strong resident company.
Genre: Comedy
Acts: 2
Run time: 115 minutes
Suitable for students 16+
Cast size: 10 actors
Male roles: 3
Female roles: 7
Casting notes: Doubling roles is not practical as all ten characters appear across multiple scenes. The characters' ages are mostly mature, senior since it is a historical society, however there is flexibility on all the ages, with Serge and Saffron being considerably younger than the others.
PATSY: 50s - 60s. President of the Archival History Society. Means well. Is in over her head.
EDINA: 50s - 70s. Secretary. Handwrites the minutes. Cannot read her own handwriting.
CLAUDIA: 60s-70s. Treasurer. Believes $2 is a perfectly adequate membership fee.
MARSHALL: 40s-50s. Museum curator. Competent. Personal life more is complicated than he lets on.
DOLLY: 70s - 80s. Society Member. Has money. Guards it fiercely. Dislikes the Mayor.
SERGE: 20s - 30s. Society Member. Young. Keen. Quietly appalled by everyone.
PETE: 50s - 60s. Local Mayor. Self-appointed liaison to the Society. Avowed anti-feminist. Tolerated, but not liked.
SAFFRON: 30s - 40s. Engineering firm representative. Competent. Professional. Increasingly tested.
CONSTANCE: 60s - 70s. Former president. Senior member. Recently returned from medical leave. Has opinions.
RENATA: 40s - 50s. Insurance assessor. Marshall's ex-wife. Nobody planned this.
