God's Favorite

Act One

Scene One. It is midnight at the North Shore of Long Island. We open the scene inside of the Benjamin mansion, which is beautiful and opulent. The house has begun to stir due to a noise that’s happening outside. Joe Benjamin has begun to investigate the noise with his family: his wife Rose, his two kind and dim witted twins Sarah and Ben, and his domestic help Mady and Morris. Everyone is terrified that a burglar (or in Sarah’s case, a rapist) is trying to get into the house. Their fears are assuaged when David, the eldest son, enters the house drunk. Everyone leaves the room but David and Joe. Joe tries to have a heart-to-heart moment with his son, asking why he has been drinking again. David answers his questions with sarcasm, sneering at Joe’s attempt to make sense of his problems through faith. Joe tells him how he grew up extremely poor, with a widowed mother and eleven brothers and sisters. His mother was a pious woman, believing that everything that happened was God’s