The Devil’s Due
a one-act psychological comedy
by Jean Klein

About The Play:
In The Devil’s Due, play, an artist, Eric Talmadge, confronts the decline of his aesthetic powers and the possible dissolution of his marriage. In a satiric tour de force, a visitor—possibly a neighboring psychiatrist and possibly a more fearsome presence—offers him a possible way out of his dilemma. A comic turn on both psychiatry and demonic powers, The Devil’s Due examines man’s choices in an uncertain world. It has received a staged reading and a full production as part of the Dog Days Festival at the Generic Theater in Norfolk, VA

Time: The present
Place: An apartment in New York City near Riverside Drive, probably West End Avenue.

Cast List:
Eric Talmadge: A painter in his middle forties
Alysha Talmadge: His wife, early forties
Dr. Boudreaux:: (Pronounce “Bood-row”) A somewhat
mysterious figure of a man of indeterminate age

The Scene:
A room in an apartment in New York City, near Riverside Drive, which has been converted into an artist's studio. On one wall, there is a partially opened window. The back wall is dominated by a half-finished canvas standing on an easel. The colors of the works are generally dark. A few suggest torment--a clenched fist, jagged lines, or sketches that resemble tombstone rubbings. Framed on the wall, however, are others suggest visions of glory--an abstract figure praying or a glowing citadel in the distance.

From the Play:
(Boudreaux enters. He is a distinguished looking man who could be in his thirties or fifties. He has a cigar, something like Freud's, in his mouth. Chewing on it, he looks around.)

Boudreaux: You were, perhaps, expecting me?
Eric: Well, yes and no. You don't look exactly the way I'd pictured you.
Boudreaux: I try my best to be nondescript. In my business, it is often better than way, to appear as many different people. To one, I look like an insurance agent. To another, a lawyer. (He smiles.) Some personas are better than others. What do I look like to you?
Eric: I don’t know.
Boudreaux: That is probably best if we are to accomplish the task before us.
Eric: You have a rather odd accent. Are you from New York?
Boudreaux: Many people believe so. I tend to be comfortable here. But then I've had homes in many places. So, my way of speech tends to be somewhat unorthodox. So do my methods of treatment. I hope that won’t bother you, Mr. Talmadge.
Eric: You know my name?
Boudreaux: I know quite a bit about you. Your work. Your heartbreak. Your wife’s distress. I know many things. You needed help and I came. You do want help, don’t you?
Eric: Yes, but...I didn’t really think...
Boudreaux: No matter. I have some theories that might help you. As I said, they are most unorthodox. My name is Dr. Boudreaux. Some people simply call me Monsieur Boudreaux. Or just Boudreaux. You may call me that, if you wish.
Eric: Boudreaux will be fine. Uh, is this the way you usually arrive?
Boudreaux: Arrive? Oh! You mean through the door? I have my own methods. Did you expect me to come down the chimney like Santa Claus, perhaps?
Eric: Not really. But I was expecting something different. A little more dramatic, if you know what I mean. It’s hard to have faith in someone who needs a door to enter a room.

About the Playwright:
Jean Klein holds an MFA from the University of Iowa’s Writer’s Workshop. Her plays have been produced at numerous theaters throughout the country and have won awards. Her play Anansi won first place in the Virginia Highlands Festival and her Reflections in a Stained Glass Window was among the top plays in the Eugene O’Neill theater competition. In 1976 with Kathleen Lockwood, she co-founded the Tidewater Dramatists Guild, a playwrights cooperative which is still active in encouraging the development of new plays. Her work includes translations, adaptations and musicals. Over the past 20 years, she has taught playwriting and creative writing at Lindenwood College, Carnegie-Mellon University, Norfolk State University, and Old Dominion University. She also conducts workshops for young writers.