A Toast
A dinner between a married couple and their best friend has deadly repercussions.
Some of the best conversations end up in QUITE different places than they start. Some of the most devastating chats do, too. You never know when light hearted banter can morph into something far more sinister, fueled by the twist of just a few delicately – and insidiously - chosen words.
When Will sits down with wife Penny and her BFF Valerie for a platonic menage a trois meal, he quickly finds himself ill at ease…
From the womens’ discussion of tampons and “that time of the month”. Remember that light hearted banter? Even THAT can be horrific… depending on one’s sensibilities and point of view!
I mean, what guy could possibly listen to this and not cringe?
PENNY
My worst time? Yeah, that’s easy.
Last week, I’m sitting in a client’s boardroom,
waiting for my turn in a multi-pronged pitch.
They call a break. I get up and feel blood just gush out of me.
WILL
Why are we talking about this? I don’t want to hear this.
VALERIE
You bought it up.
PENNY
You did bring it up, babe.
VALERIE
- and now you’re trying to weasel
your way out of hearing about it.
“Weasel”? To be honest, that’s an appropriate label for Will.
Because when Valerie temporarily steps away to the kitchen, Penny drops the mother-load of information bombs.
PENNY
I know about you and Valerie….
Don’t bother denying it. I know everything.
I’ve known all along. When it started...where you guys do it...
how much money you give her.
I know you’re a weak man who’s rationalizing
the affair off as something more than it is.
While Will stammers out a lame excuse, Penny hands him poison, and lays her ultimatum on the line:
Demanding Will KILL either her or Valerie. Penny just doesn’t want to live through a divorce. And she’s lost all loyalty to her backstabbing home breaking buddy, too. So which will it be?
As an oblivious Valerie returns, Will wilts. Under the circumstances, is there ANY good thing a man can choose?
Requiring just a dining room table, B.S. Carter’s Toast is as micro budget as they come. If you know of three actors capable of delivering the digs of the smart dialogue with the subtle “poison” it deserves, you’ll definitely have a winner for festivals. No matter what Will ultimately decides to do!