Three Can Keep a Secret

by Gregory Crafts

It was supposed to be an easy score. Whack the mark. Stage the scene. Take the money. Retire to Cabo. That’s how it was supposed to go down. But for poor Moose and Sonny, a really bad night is only just beginning…

Three Can Keep A Secret, a new play by Gregory Crafts (Friends Like These, Super Sidekick: The Musical) is a darkly funny and slightly twisted interactive crime thriller where YOU, the audience...

It was supposed to be an easy score. Whack the mark. Stage the scene. Take the money. Retire to Cabo. That’s how it was supposed to go down. But for poor Moose and Sonny, a really bad night is only just beginning…

Three Can Keep A Secret, a new play by Gregory Crafts (Friends Like These, Super Sidekick: The Musical) is a darkly funny and slightly twisted interactive crime thriller where YOU, the audience, choose how our story proceeds while our anti-heroes attempt to literally get away with murder. With multiple decision points throughout the story, no two performances will be the same!

Patron reviews from the 2017 Hollywood Fringe Festival:
"A fun, deadly neo-noir romp!"

"Boondock Saints meets Napoleon Dynamite."

"Hilarious, clever, and incredibly engaging every minute! A unique interactive theatrical experience."

"…a breath of fresh air from the usual formats."

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Three Can Keep a Secret

Recommended by

  • Dawn Branch: Three Can Keep a Secret by Gregory Crafts
    “

    A great choose-your-own-adventure murder comedy. I was lucky enough to see this twice during the recent Fringe festival and experience two different endings and it is extremely well-done. The story is tight, even where it diverges, and each ending is satisfying. You might regret your choices, but you won't regret seeing this play.

    A great choose-your-own-adventure murder comedy. I was lucky enough to see this twice during the recent Fringe festival and experience two different endings and it is extremely well-done. The story is tight, even where it diverges, and each ending is satisfying. You might regret your choices, but you won't regret seeing this play.

    ”

Character Information

  • Mason
    A slight figure. Described by his wife Denise as "a nebbishy cross between Woody Allen and Crispin Glover, but with even less spine." And while he certainly seems that way on the surface, still waters run deep. He seems to be tied up in some shady business with Moose and Sonny's bosses in Las Vegas, and the boys are here to collect. Sadly, he's murdered before we can learn more about him or this plot. But once ensconced in the afterlife, he serves as the omnipresent narrator and guides the audience through the night's mayhem with a detached sense of fascination. Perhaps even glee.
    30s-40s
    Any Race/Ethnicity
    Male
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      30s,
      40s
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Male
  • Moose
    Built like a brick shithouse, this former Golden Gloves Boxing champion has a no-show job at a Mafia-owned club in Las Vegas, and instead spends his nights collecting debts and breaking legs for his mobster bosses. Moose is deeply in love with Denise, completely unaware of the fact that her "embittered housewife" persona is an act she uses to seduce various one-night stands with Mason's full knowledge and enthusiastic consent. When Moose learns of Mason's debt to his bosses, he hatches a scheme to whack Mason, take the money, and, like a knight in shining armor, sweep Denise off her feet and ride off with her into the sunset. Little does he know just how wrong he is about almost everything.
    40s
    Any Race/Ethnicity
    Male
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      40s,
      50s
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Male
  • Sonny
    Fit but not built. He's as solid as he is unpredictable. The Mutt to Moose's Jeff in this evening's events, Sonny is a thrill-seeking loose cannon. One that's not afraid to get blood on his hands for the right price. When Moose approached him with the idea to rob their bosses by intercepting Mason's debt service, he signed on the moment he learns he gets to kill a man, and insists on doing it personally. Being the furthest removed from the chain of events that led up to tonight's happenings, he's got the least to lose out of anyone there. As if he couldn't be any more dangerous.
    30s-40s
    Any Race/Ethnicity
    Male
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      30s,
      40s
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Male
  • Denise
    Denise is Mason's wife. She's smart, strong, and sexy. And she knows it. Denise and Mason have a loving - if non-traditional - marriage. She happily indulges Mason in his cuckolding and degradation fetishes, going out nights and weekends to find new sexual partners, then regaling him with tales and evidence of her exploits. To prospective hook-ups, she paints herself to be the lonely, unsatisfied, and embittered housewife, but nothing could be further from the truth. She loves Mason dearly, and they trust each other implicitly. However, part of their agreement is that she's not supposed to see a partner very long before moving on to the next one. Yet she finds herself gravitating to Moose time and again, and fails to realize before it's too late that she's sending the wrong signals.
    early 30s - early 40s
    Any Race/Ethnicity
    Female
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      30s,
      40s
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Female
  • Julia
    Julia is every bit a committed hedonist as Denise, but lacks Denise's discipline. She's so wild, the Against Me! song, "Thrash Unreal" could have been written about her, and she'd sing along at the top of her lungs while completely missing the point. Julia was headed to Las Vegas with Denise for the weekend to prowl the clubs. However, she started partying a little too early and got them kicked off the flight to Vegas before it even left the gate. Now back at Denise's house, she's drunk, she's hungry, she's *ahem* thirsty. And she *really* needs to pee.
    early 30s - early 40s
    Any Race/Ethnicity
    Female
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      30s,
      40s
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Female

Development History

  • Reading, Theatre Unleashed, 2020
  • Workshop, Theatre Unleashed, 2016

Production History

  • Fringe, Hollywood Fringe Festival, 2024
  • Fringe, Hollywood Fringe Festival, 2017

Awards

  • Fringe Award for Comedy
    Hollywood Fringe Festival
    Finalist
    2024
  • Top of the Fringe
    Hollywood Fringe Festival
    Finalist
    2024
  • The ENCORE! Producers' Award
    Hollywood Fringe Festival
    Winner
    2017
  • The Fringe Ensemble Theatre Award
    Hollywood Fringe Festival
    Finalist
    2017
  • Inkwell Playwright's Promise Award
    Inkwell Theatre Company
    Finalist
    2017