Community Players

Tommy Turner has been married for ten years to Ellen, and he has quietly settled in a teaching job at Mid-Western University. It is the weekend of the big homecoming game, and Joe Ferguson, the greatest football hero that Mid-Western ever had, comes to town and sees Ellen, his old sweetheart. In addition to these distractions, Tommy is drawn into a controversy when a young intellectual writes an article in which he calls the Board of Trustees at Mid-Western fascists. Tommy wants to read a letter to his composition class and is about to join the ranks of martyrs who have been fired because the trustees are busy shouting, “Red!” Ellen tries to dissuade Tommy from reading the letter, and in anger, he tells her to go with Joe and leave him to his books and his principles. Eventually after he has fortified himself with the proper courage, Tommy challenges Joe to fisticuffs. He steadfastly maintains his right to read the letter and to teach the young to think for themselves. Ellen sees Tommy as a pretty good example of the male animal, and she stands up with him.