Act 1 Summary

The Desperate Hours is a three-act play about the terror inflicted on a suburban Indianapolis family by three escaped convicts. The interpersonal dynamics exhibited by those under pressure is borne along by the classic theme of good versus evil.

As the play begins, a deputy sheriff named Jesse Bard is arriving for his morning shift at the Indianapolis sheriff's department. Everything seems quiet until another deputy named Winston reads a wire report about a jailbreak in nearby Terre Haute. Winston in unmoved by the report, but the name of one of the escapees, Glenn Griffin, strikes fear in Bard, on whom Griffin has sworn revenge.

Bard notifies a man named Fredericks of the Indiana state police, and Fredericks casually takes note of the situation and determines that it is the F.B.I.'s responsibility. Bard ends the call, and Winston removes his...