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. 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.
