The Skin of Our Teeth

The first act opens with a narrated slideshow that includes the name of the theater, and an announcer details the “News Events of the World” (5). First, a citizen reported the sun’s rising, leading The Society Affirming the End of the World to extend the deadline to the apocalypse by 24 hours. A wedding ring was found in the theater, inscribed: “Eva and Adam. Genesis II:18” (6). No one has yet to explain the wall of ice that is advancing across the country. Next, the slideshow shows a man named George Antrobus of Excelsior, New Jersey, who discovered the lever and invented the wheel, was “once a gardener, but left that situation under circumstances that have been variously reported” (7), and has scars from fighting in many different wars. His wife is Mrs. Maggie Antrobus, president of the Excelsior Mothers’ Club, and the final slide shows the couple with their children, Gladys and Henry, and their maid, Sabina. The announcer praises them as the “typical American family” (7), shifting the scene into their living room. Sabina, who is heavily made up, cleans and frets that George is late coming home. It’s August and freezing, getting colder every day, and each day she worries about whether he will make it home.