Hotel on Martin Gardens

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THE STORY: All I want is to run everything and always be right; now is that so much to ask? Thus speaks K.C., the no-nonsense editor of ME magazine, a popular rag dedicated to the upwardly mobile. K.C. lives by herself on an island off the Connecticut coast, the island's only inhabitant. It is April Fool's Day. K.C. and her publisher-lover, Bo, are hosting their annual all-day Monopoly game. They have invited ME editor Henry, who brings along Food and Restaurant critic, Erna Tinker-a bit of a dingbat, but she's got a terrific palate. Through the course of two acts we follow the game-both the familiar board game and the corporate game. What Henry does not know: K.C. intends to fire him after ten years of service. But that is not her main concern on this day: I always put a hotel on Marvin Gardens, and I always win. Suddenly, there is a knock at the door and a storm-bedraggled girl enters. Rose, a young schoolteacher, has been dumped on this island by a frustrated seducer. It is her presence and contrast to these terribly affluent and sophisticated New Yorkers that eventually leads to a showdown. Henry wants to start a new life with this young charmer; Bo and Erna end up having hanky-panky in the pump house; and K.C.-having eventually finagled Marvin Gardens-ends up all alone on her island. I win she says, sitting like a little girl among her toys. The discussions of Passing Go, landing on Boardwalk, etc., delight audiences who know this game by heart and the double meanings of corporate gamesmanship ring wickedly true, as America's favorite board game becomes the metaphor for American greed.