Barefoot in the Park

ACT ONE

Corie Bratter arrives full of excitement at her new apartment in Manhattan. It is to be the first home she shares with her new husband, Paul. The couple was married six days ago and just finished a romantic, passionate, love-struck honeymoon at the Plaza. The apartment is still empty; the furniture is late to arrive. Still, Corie’s happiness cannot be dimmed as she begins setting up their new home.

A telephone man, Harry Pepper, arrives to set up their telephone line. He just barely makes it to the door, heavily winded and near broken from the climb--the Bratter’s apartment is five flights of stairs up (plus the stoop, which everyone but Corie seems to count as an extra flight). He’s incredulous anyone would want to live in a fifth floor walkup, but Corie is happy as a clam, for, she reasons, the climb will discourage unexpected visitors--nosey neighbors, pesky salesmen, mothers. A more experienced New Yorker, Harry is skeptical about the small apartment, but Corie is bursting