In a theater located on the outskirts of a Manhattan neighborhood known as Satan’s Circus, the rise of the curtain signals the start of certain entertainments that the well-bred do not discuss. A quick perusal of the theater program provides patrons with a map to the highest seats and basest behavior - the Third Tier.

1. The
Third Tier
PRESENTS
The Muse theater
23rd Street & tenth Avenue
New York CITY
A Scandalous Tale of Whorearchy, Politics &
Theater in the Gilded Age
Winter 1880
Safest theater on Tenth avenue – 7 exits!
Bonnie.Hendrickson@live.com

2. Week Beginning Tuesday Evening Feb. 3rd, 1880
Matinees Wednesday and Saturday.
“The Third Tier”
A One-Hour Cable Drama
The Parlor
After Theater Relaxation for Gentlemen
Music and Other
Entertainments
Inquire at Third Tier
Refreshment Area
D. D. Dunwitty
Proprietor and Manager
Under the glow of gas lights, the rich and powerful
preen at dinner parties, private concerts, and lavish balls.
The bottom rungs of the social ladder prowl back alleys
and take refuge in dank taverns. In between is the
theater, bringing together the high and low, the rich and
poor, the sacred and profane. It is a gilded age with
tarnish lurking just below the surface.
In a “nouveau” theater, located on the outskirts of a
Manhattan neighborhood known as Satan’s Circus, the
rise of the curtain signals the start of certain
entertainments that the well-bred do not discuss. A quick
perusal of the theater program provides patrons with a
map to the highest seats and basest behavior - the Third
Tier.
This is the world of a madam obsessed with a society
marriage for her daughter and a talent for blackmail. Of
an imaginative former whore with a slashed face and
dead heart. Of an illiterate judge who aspires to the
Mayor’s office and beyond. Of a Barnumesque theater
owner whose grandiosity is matched only by his greed.
Of an ambitious young policeman in love with both his
career and the madam’s daughter. And of a starry-eyed
girl who dreams of being on the stage instead of front
and center of the Third Tier.

3. The Players
Emily
Emily loves the theater. She has the best seat in the house - front row, center of
the Third Tier. In the year since her 13th birthday, she has learned to filter out the
noise around her as her mother’s girls and others advertise – and sometimes sell
on the spot - their wares. At home she dutifully does her lessons and practices the
pianoforte, but her infatuation with being on the stage has grown into obsession.
She believes, as only a young girl can, that her future lies in the theater.
Lily
Lily hates the theater. After enduring three hellish years in jail awaiting trial for the
murder of her stepfather, the theater had drained her of what was left of her youth.
Now her daughter, Emily, brings in more trade than she ever had. It tortures her to
know her darling girl spends her evenings as bait for her brothel, but it is part of her
plan to see that Emily marries well. Once Emily is established in a new life, Lily can
withdraw from the world and nurse her broken hands and shattered dreams of being
a pianist. Lily excels as an elegant and discreet hostess, because when doctors,
politicians, and policemen are at ease, they speak freely, and what they say is
extremely valuable.
Judge
A gifted orator, Judge Henry M. Murtagh, blustered and blackmailed his way to a
judgeship while barely being able to read. After saving her from a life sentence for
murder, he backed Lily’s brothel in return for her supply of information and her
company. As ruthless as he is rotund, he has his sights set on no less than the
White House, but the next step is the Mayor’s chair at City Hall.
Jim
An aspiring gentleman with a knife in his boot, tenement born Jim is a new member
of the Metropolitan Police Force. Proud of his uniform and the respect it
commands, he believes he has found his way out of the slums. He takes on any
assignment that will move him up the ranks, including the patrol of the whores and
their patrons on the Third Tier. The last thing he thought he would find in the
theater was love.
Dunwitty
The “normal” child of a P.T. Barnum attraction and his later protégé, D. D.
Dunwitty has the personality of a carnival barker and a lust for money. As far as he
is concerned, his theater can be insulted as “nouveau,” as long as it makes him rich.
He can sell anything from tickets to actor’s contracts to space on the Third Tier.
Always looking for the next big thing to fill the seats, Dunwitty will take a gamble,
but all know that the house has the advantage - and he owns the house.
Hiding her razor-slashed face in the gloom of the Third Tier, Gertrude, Lily’s sister,
tends bar and keeps tabs on Lily’s girls. She channels her energies into keeping
house, tending bar on the Tier, and – as a distant nod to her girlhood aspirations to
be a teacher - tutoring Emily and the brothel girls. After settling her score with the
stepfather/pimp who disfigured her, she has no qualms about taking care of bloody
business. Alone in the early morning hours, she escapes her life with pen, paper, and
her imagination.
Gertrude
Bonnie.Hendrickson@live.com

4. Coming Attractions
Outsmarting the Sprites – Lily
blackmails the Judge into helping
Emily attend the most important
high-society ball of the season; the
brothel throws itself into
preparations for Emily’s debut
A Higher Tier – Dunwitty
schemes to destroy his mentor
turned rival – P.T. Barnum; Jim
sees Emily at Dunwitty’s theater
and follows her home; Lily hits the
big time by entertaining a City
Commissioner; Emily falls under
the spell of an actor/lothario
Nymphs de Pave – Backstory in
which Gertrude takes her revenge
after she is disfigured by her
stepfather/pimp; Lily’s trial for the
murder of her stepfather and deal
for clemency with the Judge
Satan’s Circus – After meeting at a
“French Ball,” a dying, syphilitic
madam takes Lily under her wing;
the Judge coerces Dunwitty to
allow Lily’s “ladies” to work on the
Third Tier for free; the Judge
recruits for Lily’s new house
The Gentleman’s Companion –
Gertrude wields pen and knife to
keep the house from being
included in the “whorehouse
guidebook”; Jim risks his future to
protect Emily’s honor; at Lily’s
behest, the Judge warns Jim to stay
away from Emily
STAGE
THIRDTIER
SEATS
STAGE
PARQUET
SEATS
EXIT1EXIT2
EXIT3
EXIT 4
BALCONY
STAGE
SEATS
EXIT5
EXIT 6
EXIT 7
BALCONY
NOTICE:GREENLightsIndicateExits.
ExitsfromthisTheater.
Parquet–Nos.1and2leadto23rd.No3leadsto24th.No.4leadstoTenth.
Balcony–Nos.5and6leadto23rd.No7leadstoTenth.
ThirdTier–followREDlights.