The story is set in a near-future where the United States is ruled by the Christian Right political movement at the start of the play.
In Act One, set in the year 2015, Dexter, a graduate student at a "faith-based" Midwestern university, proposes the subject of his thesis to Alice, his professor — he has discovered a manuscript of an unknown play titled Post Mortem, written by a "minor late–20th/early–21st century playwright", A. R. Gurney.
Alice reveals youthful dreams of becoming an actress, such hopes having been dashed by the government's conversion of all Broadway theaters to casinos in order to raise money for the enormous sums spent over the years on the continuing war in Iraq.
They are interviewed by Betsy at a campus seminar about the glorious impact of their nationwide stagings of the now well-known play Post Mortem (which they have re-created from their own memories).
The play has changed society completely, removing the Christian right from positions of political power, and achieving many liberal goals: Dexter flirts with Betsy, to Alice's discomfort.