Synopsis Two corporate spokesmen set out to fire Lady Justice. Company front men, Walter Punshon and Herman Rewald, debating the need to fire an employee. A strange clanging knock is heard, and Themis enters. She is a young woman donning a toga and blindfold and carrying a sword and scales. Walter gruffly expounds that they are no longer satisfied with her performance, while the more compassionate Herman defends her virtues. Herman leaves to take an emergency phone call, while Walter uses Themis’s scales to visually demonstrate how the cons outweigh the pros of keeping her around. Herman returns in a rage, having just received word that his daughter has been killed. Now with fairness no longer favoring him, Herman turns on Themis and takes her hostage with her own sword. When she fails to promise the return of his child, Herman slices the throat of Lady Justice.

Production History Run of the Mill Theatre Company Variations on Justice Baltimore, MD Playwrights’ Round Table Launch Orlando, FL Acme Theatre New Works Winter Festival Maynard, MA Endtimes Productions Vignettes for the Apocalypse 2 New York, NY Actors’ Theatre Reading Grand Rapids, MI Fort Point Theatre Channel Exclamation Point 3! Reading Boston, MA Independent Theatre Collective StoFest Wheeling, WV Box Wine Theatre Raucous Caucus Minneapolis, MN Queens Players Long Island City One Act Festival Long Island City, NY E.M.U. Theatre Ten-Minute Play Festival Lawrence, KS SWAN (Support Women Artists Now) SWAN Day Dayton Dayton, OH Annoyance Theatre Naked Angels Tuesdays at 9 Chicago, IL

Nick Stock and Carol Holstead in Alien to Antiquity at EMU Theatre in Lawrence, Kansas. Directed by Chris Haberger. Photographer: Jim Luhning.

Running Time: 10 minutes Set: office (interior unit) Cast: 2 M, 1 F