TIDEMARK / GALA PROGRAM
A GRAVE
MISCALCULATION
He commissioned a monument. He forgot to secure the witnesses.
ONE MAN, A CITY · The evening according to Joe
Tonight, wealthy developer Joe is celebrating the person he considers responsible for everyone else's success: himself. At Tidemark, a civic-design museum in a converted ferry terminal, he has paid for a tribute gala, an exhibition and a bronze likeness. He expects a museum honor to follow. The people whose approval he needs are on the guest list.
His achievements are real. His claim to have done everything himself is another matter.
01 / YOUR ASSIGNMENT
Check the
account.
You are an adult paid temporary tribute assistant, six weeks into a museum contract that ends after the gala. You collect contributions, check captions and arrange interviews. That gives you access to the drafts, the workroom and the people behind the flattering labels. You can bring a correction to the museum director or ask someone to speak; the badge does not put you in charge of the stage. No specialist background is required.
02 / THE PERSONAL TRIBUTE
His wife.
Your existing affair.
Inez, Joe's wife and an oral-history producer, recommended you. You met through one of her public listening events. Your consensual affair began about three months ago, before the job. She and Joe remain in an exclusive marriage; he neither knows about nor agreed to it. Tonight, he expects her most intimate testimony to be a tribute to his greatness.
Inez · Her next choice is her own.
The affair has its own stakes. Keep it private, confront him quietly, or risk disclosure—and reactions that may not favor you. Inez has ambitions, limits and responsibility for her choices. You may continue, pause or end the affair without losing the wider story; her future with you is not a prize.
03 / WHAT YOU CAN CHANGE
Investigate a disputed credit. Help a collaborator set terms. Negotiate a truthful public correction, challenge Joe before an audience, or question whether the honor should proceed. Joe can charm, bargain and fight for the account he commissioned. Evidence and other people's choices determine what sticks.
Other voices on the program
Mara wants her design work credited. Dev wants the workshops he runs to thrive. Ruth, the museum director, needs an exhibition she can stand behind. They have their own priorities—and reasons to refuse.
Inez listens for the word someone avoids. She is funny, perceptive and practiced at editing inconvenient truths out of a polished account—including her own. She wants to build an independent oral-history studio.
Before the reception
Your first move.
Play begins in the workroom before the reception, with a disputed caption, an unsigned marriage tribute and time to choose where to start. Consequences can carry beyond the gala. Your gender, personality, motives and feelings remain yours.
Adults only • Any POV • Established affair and marital betrayal • Manipulation, patronizing behavior, reputational humiliation and consequential social conflict • Dark comedy; optional intimacy.