LEISURE, LABOR, LUST

By Sara Farrington

​Published by Next Stage Press

Publication Date: October 1st, 2025 

 

2W 2M

 

A 3-part psychodrama set in two versions of New York City in 1907: Edith Wharton’s uptown and Jacob Riis’ downtown. Four characters toss their tangled versions of a single narrative back and forth, reenacting unreliable memories, jumping in and out of time, space, character and gender. The fifth character is Delancey Morris, who's never seen, but holds the others' lives in the balance. In Leisure, Grace’s Hunter’s closeted husband Harry has just committed suicide, so she and her maid Lucy reenact the events leading up to his death, including Grace’s affair with Delancey. Labor rewinds to the days right before Harry’s suicide, with events told from the point of view of servants, Lucy and Gilbert. Lust fast forwards to moments before Harry’s suicide, where a still alive Harry expands the narrative even further, reliving his tortured life as a closeted man and years-long love affair with, again, Delancey Morris.