Bartok As Dog
by Patrick Tovatt

THE STORY: Parsons, still lacking direction at the age of 35, attempts to reenter the mainstream although he wants a night job so that the days will still be free to pursue his avocation of photography.

As the play begins he is undergoing a lie detector test, an hilarious if dehumanizing experience which he fails handily.

Returning home to a cold beer and Bartok played loudly on the phonograph Parsons is given grudging sympathy by his girlfriend Lois, a rising young corporate executive who is paying all the bills-but beginning to lose patience with her lover's lackadaisical attitude.

Parson's next interview is with a rather rigid older lady who quickly makes it known her feeling that Parsons is strictly a dilettante who doesn't really want to work at all and who grumpily sends him on his way.

Home again Parsons finds that his relationship with Lois is in trouble too, when she informs him that she has a date that evening and that it might be better if he was gone when she returns.

As the play ends Parsons' fate is sealed, with only the music of Bartok (the composer) and thoughts of Bartok (his mushy loved dog) to give him solace in a world which has little patience with dreamers.