THIS IS A MORTALITY PLAY SET IN AN OFFICE DEPOT by Haley Nelson

Parallel universes are real and in all of them Office Depots exist and that makes Tina want to die.

A play for millennials on the brink of everything.
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THIS IS A MORTALITY PLAY SET IN AN OFFICE DEPOT

Recommended by

  • Sebastian Hagelstein:
    18 Nov. 2023
    “ Lots of opportunities for creative staging choices and performances, especially moments like Tina's mega-church preacher-style speech and the scene in the flooded universe. Lovely variety in tone between scenes to establish different universes while maintaining the same humor. The scenes of Adrien and Karlee being goofy at a boring job are simply written but some of the funniest moments to picture staged. ”
  • Lisa Dellagiarino Feriend:
    15 Feb. 2022
    “ Oh my gosh. How original, and how fabulous! Karlee and Adrien are millennials who work at an Office Depot. People rarely come in, and as they fill their time with talk, they discuss parallel universes. We then proceed to see many scenes with many different versions of them in which big things and small details are altered - all except the Office Depot. That exists in all universes. The dialogue is natural and funny - often darkly so - and I didn't want the play to end. I'd follow these two to any universe. (Also Tina is super intense.) ”
  • Meredith Bartmon:
    12 May. 2021
    “ If you love absurdist comedy then this wonderfully alive play about death and retail might be for you. If you've ever been a millennial, loved a millennial or had a millennial provide you with customer service then this play might be for you. This story flirts with the big themes that haunt young people across all possible universes and then centers the gloriously mundane humanity at the center of those existential crises we've all been trudging through. I think you will fall in love with Adrien, Karlee and Tina, even though Tina is a little bit scary. 10/10 would recommend. ”
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Character Information

  • ADRIEN
    25,
    Latino
    ,
    Male
    He’s a total teddy bear: sweet, and so smart, and so capable. He’s a hard-worker with a really strong moral compass, and a total softy – definitely the type to try to pick up stray kittens he found on walks home from school. He’s in his hometown and would feel some type of way about it if he took a second to think about it – he tries not to.
    Can be played by:
    • Age: 
      20s
    • Race/Ethnicity: 
      Latinx/o/a or Hispanic
    • Gender: 
      Male
  • KARLEE
    24,
    White
    ,
    Female
    Assistant Manager of Office Depot. Anxious and shy and totally capable. She’s a young woman recovering from anorexia (and here’s a reminder that someone dealing with an eating disorder can have any variety of body types). She’s super smart, and is in grad school. She feels some type of way about ALL of that. She’s trying really hard to remain positive.
    Can be played by:
    • Age: 
      20s
    • Race/Ethnicity: 
      White
    • Gender: 
      Female
  • TINA
    20s,
    A BAD BITCH WHO IS NOT AT ALL INTERESTED IN PLAYING BY YOUR RULES
    A Bad Bitch Who Is Not At All Interested In Playing By Your Rules. About the same age as Karlee and Adrien. A little goth-y.
    Can be played by:
    • Age: 
      20s
    • Race/Ethnicity: 
      Any race/ethnicity
    • Gender: 
      Any gender

Development History

  • Reading
    ,
    Urbanite Theatre Modern Works Festival
    ,
    2021
  • Reading
    ,
    IMPRINT Theatreworks
    ,
    2020
  • Workshop
    ,
    Dallas Theater Center Emerging Playwrights Workshop
    ,
    2019