Act 1 Summary

The Petrified Forest is a two-act play that tells the story of three main characters, Gabby Maple, Alan Squier and Duke Mantee whose lives reach climactic points one night in a diner in Eastern Arizona in 1934. The setting is the Black Mesa Filling Station and Bar-B-Q owned by Jason Maple, Gabby's father.

As the play opens diner employee, Boze Hertzlinger, converses with two customers employed as telephone linemen. The discussion is about the benefits of communism which have been raised by the first lineman and strenuously objected to by Boze. Jason, who is a member of the local American Legion, takes particular offense to the lineman's un-American viewpoints and asks the men to leave.

Gramp Maple, Jason's father, has been observing the scene and advises Jason not to engage in verbal conflict with rebellious men like the ones who just left. Jason's frustrations...