Plays / Trifles

Trifles: who’s in each scene

Susan Glaspell · 1916

Plan this showLoads this breakdown into the free planner. Add your cast and their conflicts; get a schedule and call notices.

Scenes

Speaking roles

Groups / ensemble

Scene × character grid

● speaks · ○ on stage, no lines. Weight compares each scene’s length to the play’s typical scene.

Scene	Weight	George Henderson (County Attorney)	Henry Peters (Sheriff)	Lewis Hale	Mrs Peters	Mrs Hale
Scene (i)The Wrights' farmhouse kitchen	heavy	●	●	●	●	●
Scene (ii)The Wrights' farmhouse kitchen	normal				●	●
Scene (iii)The Wrights' farmhouse kitchen	fuller	●	●		●	●
Scene (iv)The Wrights' farmhouse kitchen	light	●	○		●	●
Scene (v)The Wrights' farmhouse kitchen	normal				●	●
Scene (vi)The Wrights' farmhouse kitchen	light	●	●	●	●	●

Cast size and doubling

5 speaking roles.

No two speaking roles are always apart scene by scene, so there’s no clean doubling.

Heaviest scenes

Work these early and often:

Scene (i) — 5 speaking, about 145 lines
Scene (iii) — 4 speaking, about 100 lines
Scene (ii) — 2 speaking, about 75 lines

Characters

George Henderson (County Attorney) — The county attorney
Henry Peters (Sheriff) — The sheriff, Mrs Peters's husband
Lewis Hale — A neighbouring farmer
Mrs Peters — The sheriff's wife
Mrs Hale — Lewis Hale's wife

Edition: Project Gutenberg eBook #10623: Plays by Susan Glaspell (Boston: Small, Maynard & Company, 1920), containing Trifles (first performed 1916). Breakdown derived from this text. Public domain in the United States. Breakdown only — no text of the play is reproduced here.