Dead Accounts

by Theresa Rebeck

Jack's unexpected return throws his family into a frenzy, and his sister Lorna needs answers. Is he coming home or running away? Where is his wife everyone hates? And how did he get all that money? Theresa Rebeck's new comedy tackles the timely issues of corporate greed, small town values, and whether or not your family will always welcome you back... with no questions asked.

Genres: Plays, Drama

116 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Theresa Rebeck is a playwright. She also works as a television writer. Her input went into popular shows such as Dream On, Brooklyn Bridge, L.A. Law, American Dreamer, Maximum Bob, First Wave, and Third Watch.
She also wrote and produced Canterbury’s Law, Smith, Law and Order: Criminal Intent and NYPD Blue.
Ms. Rebeck has an MFA in Playwrighting and a PhD. in Victorian Melodrama, from Brandeis University. She is a board member of the Dramatists Guild and has taught at Brandeis and Columbia Universities.
She currently resides in Brooklyn with her husband Jess Lynn and two children, Cooper and Cleo.

Reviews

[Stoickitten · Rating 3 out of 5]

I first encountered this play by watching a scene from it in an acting class. It was enjoyable, as evidenced by the fact that it made me want to go out and purchase a copy of the script. There are several enjoyable scenes in the show, with fun dialogue and quirky family antics. It is a very acting-class friendly show for that reason.

However, as a whole, all these enjoyable scenes never built to much. The show doesn't do much with its interesting plot gimmick- Jack manages to steal $27 million unnoticed by draining little sums out of "dead accounts" slowly over time- and instead mostly uses it to get Jack to come home from NYC to Cincinnati to hide out with his family and wax poetic on the joys of living in the heartland, irritating his live-at-home sister Lorna.

In the end, your opinion of the show will probably depend on how much you like the characters, who are funny and well-drawn, if not particularly original. Also note that, like most plays, it is much more enjoyable to watch than to read.

[Lacie DeGough · Rating 2 out of 5]

I had to read this for my college theatre class. The whole play felt... unprofessional. There were a lot of grammatical errors, as well as errors with the formatting (some stage directions were not capitalized, for example). The story was very simple and not very interesting. I honestly don't understand why this play was chosen to be studied in my class. It didn't seem like a work of art. It seemed like something that anyone could write in a day.

There were a few funny parts, but overall I didn't think it felt like a comedy. Maybe that would be different if I saw the play in person (which I am not planning on doing—especially since there are so many curse words).

- Lacie

[Lindsay · Rating 3 out of 5]

It definitely helps that our production of this is excellent, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this script. Parts of it are a little far-fetched, but it's also engaging and funny.

[Kara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Breezy family drama w/ jokes. Kidney stones hurt, apparently.

[Victoria Shepherd · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Conventional comedy full of tropes with some amazing moments.

[Andrew · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's good. This is an interesting idea for a story. It is flawed though. Towards the end, it gets a little cheesey. Plus, I don't know whose fault this is, but there are some mistakes. There are two or three stage directions that are not italicized. Really likeable and enjoyable characters are what saw this play from being something that's just mediocre.

[Kristen Lo · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a reread. I love the characters-- I love the realistic dialogue-- and it's on my bucket list to act in.