Setting: Macy’s break room. Floors are covered in red carpet, walls have a light pink paisley tapestry, and furniture is classy, but worn. The chairs are clustered around a table, which has some snacks thrown haphazardly on it – things like crackers and fruit. There are no windows to the outside, but some lockers on stage right where the employees change into their work attire. The lockers open toward the audience and some of them stand half open, showing an assortment of clothes, cosmetics, and family pictures hanging on the locker door. The room was clearly “femininely” designed, but is simultaneously a bit chaotic.
Characters:
LILLIAN GILBRETH is in her 50s, wears plain, modest clothing, looks older than her age. She is a small woman, recently widowed. She is weary, but there is a nervous energy about her, and she constantly keeps herself busy, even with minutia. She teaches classes at Purdue University and freelances as an expert on productivity. She has 12 children at home.
EUGENIA LIES is in her late 20s, wears fashionable, vibrant clothes and bright makeup. She is an impressive woman with a bold personality to match. She assumes a familiarity with Lillian that Lillian is a bit uncomfortable with, since she is Lillian’s student. She is married, but no children.
BESS ARCHER is in her late 30s. An employee in the Macy’s tube room. She is hardworking but jovial, initially hesitant to the changes Lillian is suggesting. A bit of a leader among the other workers. Married with two children. Wears the uniform for Macys’ employees, but it is worn and old. She is clearly in a lower socioeconomic class than Eugenia and Lillian.
Lillian Gilbreth is sitting in one of the chairs around the table, facing the audience. She has taken her shoes off and is clearly exhausted. After a few beats, she starts to organize the snacks and other knick-knacks on the table, just straightening it up.
Enter Eugenia Lies.
Eugenia: I thought I might find you in here!
Lillian: Yes, I was just planning to grab the reports for the week.
Eugenia: Tell you what, I’ll help you go through them now so you won’t have to worry about them over the weekend.
Lillian: Well, I was going to go home now because Anne, my eldest, needs help sewing a dress for her graduation.
Eugenia: Oh, this won’t take but an hour.
Lillian [apologetically]: I promised her I would be home soon. I can do the reports myself, don’t you fret.
Eugenia: Well, alright.
[Lillian begins to put her shoes back on and prepares to leave]
Enter Bess Archer.
Eugenia: Bess, perfect!
Bess: Yes ma’am?
Eugenia: Lillian, Bess here is a real leader among the other women in the tube room. You should talk to her about your plans.
Lillian: I have her report right in here. She can write more if she wants to.
Bess: Actually ma’am, if you don’t mind, I’d much rather talk to you. See, I don’t express myself very well on paper, but I have lots of good ideas about improving productivity.
Lillian: Since Eugenia thinks so highly of you, I can schedule a time next week where you can give me your input on the changes. Evening, ladies.
[Lillian moves towards the door]
Bess: Pardon me, but don’t you think your ideas might be misguided without someone from the floor?
Lillian [exhausted and a bit irritated]: Bess, was it?
[Bess nods]
Bess, I have spent my entire life going from company to company, researching people and what makes them work fastest. I am a widow with 12 children. If I wasn’t the best at what I do, I wouldn’t be standing in front of you today. I understand you have a lot of experience in the tube room, but sometimes an outside perspective is needed. Your personal ideas are just fine, but I have degrees from the foremost universities in the country. If I could just do my work, I promise I will do it well.
Bess: I was not aware that some fancy degrees were necessary to push paper into tubes quickly.
Eugenia: It’s a bit more complicated than that, sweetie.
Bess: Eugenia, you may be my boss, but I am older than you.
[Eugenia throws her hands up defensively at Bess’s harsh tone and sits down in one of the chairs, leaving Bess and Lillian to their standoff]
Mrs. Gilbreth, I don’t mean to step on your toes, but you are stepping on mine. The girls, they’re worried that efficiency means jobs’ll get cut. And they can’t afford to work more hours than they’re already working. I just wanna make sure their needs are taken care of. I also have children at home, just two, but I know you have to look at their personality to make them more productive. My youngest, Karl, won’t do anything unless I promise him a sweet for it. But Roger, he’ll do anything as long as I write it on his schedule. The same thing happens with the girls here. If Mary Ann is getting tired, she just needs a snack and she’s right back at it. Now, Marcie, on the other hand, she has to sit down in here by herself. Just some recovery time. You see, I just can’t believe that one thing is gonna make all these different girls more productive, not when they’re all so different.
Lillian: That’s funny. I’ve been accused of looking too closely at the human element, never the other way around.
Eugenia: Well, sure, they’re going to accuse any woman of looking too close at the people, of not being distant enough.
Lillian: Hush with that nonsense. You love to see ghosts that aren’t there.
Eugenia [standing]: Lillian, I have been your student for two years. I know exactly what kind of contributions you’re making, but you don’t receive any recognition! They won’t even call you Dr. Gilbreth when you go to conferences about the subject you developed!
Lillian: I’m not trying to make waves.
Eugenia: I’m not saying you should make waves, I’m saying you should demand your dues.
Lillian [chuckling]: My dues… I’m lucky to have a job that allows me to support my kids. I don’t need more dues than that.
Bess: We’re all lucky. Some of us more than others.
Eugenia: What does that mean?
Bess: I’m just saying, my husband and I together can barely support two children, much less 12.
Eugenia [to Lillian]: And I’m the one chasing ghosts?
Bess: I’m not insinuating some kind of conspiracy here. I just think that Mrs. Gil- sorry, Dr. Gilbreth, should be considering the lives of the workers she’s meddling with.
Lillian: I don’t even know yet if I would recommend letting any girls go.
Bess [frustrated]: But you’re thinking about it! You have no regard for these girls and their livelihoods. They’re not gonna find a job anywhere as good as here, not with their backgrounds!
Eugenia: Bess, please, contain yourself. Lillian is here to make people’s lives better, not worse.
Bess [collapsing into chair] : I’m sorry, I just feel so useless.
Lillian: We’re all just doing our jobs here.
Eugenia: And we are all pretty powerless. And you know whose fault that is?
Lillian: Goodness, Eugenia, not again. This is why you’re never going to get promoted.
Eugenia: Because I’m trying to make it easier for women in the future to succeed?
Lillian: One day you’re going to have a child or two and realize that a women should be thinking about her family more than she thinks about moving up in the world.
Bess [shaking her head good-naturedly, this kind of talk is beyond what she can concern herself with]: This is nice and all, but I got kids of my own to worry about. Dr. Gilbreth, if you’d hold off on making any permanent decisions until we have a chance to speak again, I’d really appreciate it.
Lillian: Yes, I must go home as well, help Anne. I’m sorry for losing my temper a bit back there. I would gladly listen to your suggestions, though I cannot promise I will follow them.
Eugenia [annoyed at having her argument with Lillian interrupted/not being able to pursue her point]: Great. Glad we got everything sorted out so nicely, and with only a few insults.
Lillian: Don’t be so negative, Eugenia. I hope you’re not this way around your husband.
[Lillian and Bess prepare to leave; Bess grabs some things from her locker while Lillian grabs the reports. They head to the exit, chatting quietly about mundanities. Eugenia is left looking bewildered and annoyed.]
Eugenia: My husband? Not everything I do is about my husband and kids, unlike you two. You know what? I think-
[Eugenia notices they’ve left and ignored her and slumps down into one of the chairs, pouting until the lights go down.]
This opening scene serves to establish some of the major character of this piece and one of the major conflicts – one between the “liberated” woman found in Eugenia and the complex pioneer/homemaker/exception found in Lillian. Lillian’s achievements can be seen as a great breakthrough for women in tech fields, but it would be negligent to not acknowledge that she chose to what she did quietly, allowing the media to focus on her husband and paint her as a glorified home organizer. Of course, the context of the time period is important, which reminds us that Lillian might not have gotten anything done if she chose to “make waves” something Eugenia struggles with. In addition, there is a class dynamic here, since Eugenia and Lillian can afford to think about some aspects of feminism and their legacy, while Bess is just trying to keep her family afloat.
After this opening scene, the next scene would follow Lillian home, where she must deal with her youngest daughter complaining about Lillian not spending enough time at home. Here we are reminded again of the concept of “having it all” and why the care of children is always placed onto the mother. Lillian is torn between wanting to be a good mother and wanting to continue her work. She would reflect on Eugenia’s point about her dues, and why women are disenfranchised. Ultimately, however, she will remember that she needs her job to take care of her family, which makes her a good mother, and that ruffling feathers will only get her fired.
The final scene returns to the Macy’s breakroom. Eugenia has had a fight with her husband about children and asks Lillian how she does it. Lillian tells her that in this day and age, with the pressures from all aspects of society, Eugenia should not have children if she wants to be a pioneer, otherwise the guilt will eat at her like it has Lillian. Bess enters, cheerful, ready to talk about productivity with Lillian. Lillian has calculated over the weekend, and knows that at least five girls have to be let go. Bess is upset, and accuses Lillian of classism, of seeing the girls of cogs in a machine. Bess storms out, calling Lillian a robot. Eugenia comforts Lillian, and tells her she’s done the right thing. By remaining emotionless, she’s working to end the stereotype of women as frail and easily swayed. Lillian says she doesn’t think it will be quite that easy and the curtains go down. The audience is left with three very different approaches to women working with technology and how those women view their priorities and their legacy.
