Evelyn in Purgatory: a play in two acts

New York City, 2008. When a complaint is filed against one of the 70,000 instructors in America's largest public school system, the teacher reports to a Reassignment Center, one of a series of empty offices in the Department of Education Building. There, they sit and wait for their case to be reviewed. Usually for months. Sometimes for over a year.
A claim of improper behavior by a failing student lands Evelyn Reid in "the rubber room," where she encounters a group of teachers- some guilty of an offense, some not- who have long-since given up any hope of returning to a classroom. Over the course of a school year, these colleagues form an unlikely alliance, reminding each other of forgotten passions, emerging to face life outside in unexpected new directions. They also learn French and workshop a screenplay.
Topher Payne's play takes us down the rabbit hole to an absurd and perplexing world: the bureaucratic nightmare encountered by American public school educators.
"The Breakfast Club for teachers... an uncommonly smart and restrained commentary on the public education system."
ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION
"The script mixes sharp humor and close character observations with drama that darkens along the way. There's an undertow of unease, not unlike a Twilight Zone episode."
BOWLING GREEN INDEPENDENT
"A remarkably well-constructed and very funny dramatic comedy... we're kept constantly curious about each character."
ARTS ATL
"I love how these characters are introduced, how they change before our eyes (through an unlayering of truth and falsehood rather than through arbitrary plot contrivances.) I love how they surprise, how they make me laugh and move me, how they represent a broad spectrum of teachers and styles and ambitions. I loved every minute."
ATLANTA THEATRE BUZZ