Joshua Justheart wants nothing more than to marry Telita Trueness. But when his evil academic foil, Figmire Turncoat, who destroyed Joshua’s pursuit of academic prowess in Medieval history and literature by falsely accusing him of plagiarism shows up (gasp), Joshua is distraught. Will Telita choose him, humble yeoman farmworker that he is now? Or will she be swayed by the debonair but malicious Turncoat, and his minions Egmor N. Malignant and Ruletta Saucy, the goodhearted but ruined woman? Joshua knows Turncoat is only after Telita’s inheritance, left her by her loving, but dead, parents. Oh, who will win her heart? Will Joshua’s academic reputation be restored? Will truth and justice reign once again? Will long-lost siblings reunite? Will these questions never end?
This melodrama in one act is sure to answer these questions and leave you chuckling at the melodramatic characters, set in a tongue-in-cheek academic world of the 1880’s.
Cast list
(3 women, 4 men)
In order of appearance
Telita Trueness—a heroine
Joshua Justheart—a hero of academic proportions
Newt Biscuit—a yeoman friend to Joshua
Berthie Plainsay—a plainspoken country woman and aunt to Telita
Figmire Turncoat—a villain of scholastic proportions
Egmore N. Malignant—the toady of Figmire Turncoat
Ruletta Saucy—a ruined woman with a heart of gold
Setting
The play takes place somewhere in rural America in the late 19th or early 20th century.