On the Verge (play)

[2] The original cast consisted of Libby Boone, Susan Barnes, Paddi Edwards, and James McDonnell.

[3] The script makes extensive use of esoteric language and pop culture references from the late nineteenth century to 1955.

The cast consist of three lady explorers and eight diverse beings they encounter on their travels, which include different times as well as different locations.

The basic plot of the play follows the adventures of three Victorian women explorers into what they believe to be Terra Incognita, a new, unexplored land.

Mary reaches the conclusion at the end of the first act that the three of them are in fact traveling forward through time and that, while doing so, they are beginning to absorb knowledge from the future.

In the scene where Alex first encounters Cool Whip she takes several guesses at the item's identity: "(Osmoses) 'Mo hair'.

Often construed as the main lady explorer of the expedition, Mary Baltimore constantly cites her favorite periodical (the fictional newspaper The Boston Geo) as a source of wisdom.

As a result, her pent-up sexual inclinations show themselves in her work, which tends to focus on the mating behaviors of the various peoples she encounters.

Upon encountering a new word (a frequent occurrence in their journey), she plays with it, trying to find rhymes and alternative meanings, to the endless irritation of her comrades.

She is rather inexperienced with jungles, the terrain that the ladies find themselves in upon reaching Terra Incognita, and curses the landscape to no end.

Mary treats him like a test subject, grilling him on his daily life, and Alex can't help but marvel at his accent.

Near the end of the play, Alex makes mention of a date she has with the Gorge Troll to write lyrics, alluding to the possibility of a romance between the two.

The scene that the two have together, while Alex and Mary are offstage, is an emotionally tense one in which Mr. Coffee reveals to Fanny Grover's decision to move on since his wife's disappearance to Terra Incognita in 1888.

Mr. Coffee's description of his "one and only meeting" with Grover along with other comments he makes during the scene, identify him as the angel, or spirit, of death.

She gives the three ladies advice with her prophecies which are a string of fortune cookie and horoscope lines, most of them confusing and irrelevant e.g. "Praise your wife, even if it frightens her."

He offers Alex a chance to use her talent making advertisements for Burma Shave, a company with whom he has just signed a contract.