Dry Powder: A Play - Broadway Drama Script, Theater Performance Book, Acting & Directing Guide | Perfect for Drama Students, Actors & Theater Enthusiasts

Dry Powder a Review by Ronald MackayJeff Schrader, the CEO of Landmark Luggage located in California, is led to believe by Seth, one of two managing directors of KMM Capital Management, that this private equity firm intends to acquire and reinvigorate Landmark for $491 million. At the very moment he’s about to sign the Letter of Intent, Jeff discovers that Rick, the founder and president of KMM is being advised by Jenny, another KMM managing director, to pursue an opposing strategy. Jenny advises stripping Landmark of its assets, offshoring its production and offloading the company immediately. Whose advice will Rick follow, Seth’s or Jenny’s? What might it take to get Jeff to sign on the dotted line, irrespective?Dry powder is jargon for the cash reserves that a venture capital firm holds in order to purchase acquisitions. This engaging drama intertwines the financial, moral, philosophical and the intellectual through character and dialogue that is rapid, captivating, witty and brilliant.Rick, the founder of KMM plays God not only with the ‘dry powder’ but also to the other three characters and with others who are only mentioned. Rick’s skill consists in absorb varied and conflicting information and making the final decision according to his instinct as a financier.Jenny, the female managing director of KMM, is a single-minded psychopath dedicated to the abstract logic of capital gain.Seth, the male managing director of KMM, slightly more human than Rick, and Jenny’s antithesis, possesses a conscience but lacks the discipline to forge a course of action.Jeff is the CEO of Landmark Luggage. He’s the businessman. Rick and Jenny are financial experts whose skill lies in maximising investments for their LPs. Seth imagines himself a businessman but is a numbers man, albeit one with an anemic conscience.Two important characters never appear. Stu is the owner of Landmark. In his 70s, he is hands-off and anticipating retirement. Then there is Xu Wei, a rich Chinese investor so corrupt that even China has disowned him. In the shadows are KMM’s private investors who provide the millions that Rick (and Jenny and Seth) play at numbers with and to whom they are beholden.The opposing perspectives from which Jenny and Seth advise their boss (Rick) as to the future of Landmark Luggage provide high humour, searing irony and excellent social commentary all of which strike at left and right effectively.Jeff grasps the predicament he is in and one amazing offer, made by Jeff to Seth, follows another amazing offer made by Jenny to Seth. Who will accept what?This is a brilliant play with a complex plot, and dialogue that presses a range of political buttons with insight and intelligence. It’s also an important play because it deals, in the end, with matters that we are all intimately involved in whether we appreciate it or not. To those willing to ponder these complex issues, this is an intellectual feast.