Todd has been writing and re-writing his theatrical adaptation of The Floating Opera for nearly five years. His study is filled with peach baskets overflowing with manuscripts, notes and discarded versions of the script.
Jane has been serenely acquiescent throughout their marriage, even as Todd's strange behavior has bankrupted the family. Todd is mystified by Jane's serenity, particularly when she gently urges his attention to family finances - paying the bills, taking out more loans, struggling with the IRS.
Todd's progress as a playwright has been handicapped by what he feels is an inability to visualize the scenes he writes. He uses classmates and facilities at the community college to stage his scenes, videotaping them and reviewing the tapes obsessively. He's become a regular advertiser in the Pennysaver for pick-up theatrical cast and crew.
Todd has been having an affair with one of the actresses thus drawn into his world: a rather wild, much younger woman who lives in a low-rent district near the college. She'd auditioned to play the role of Jane Mack.
Francesca is sexually extravagant, ruthlessly ambitious and instinctively uses her sexuality to advance her prospects. Todd is perfectly well aware that Francesca's relationship with him is predatory. She never misses an opportunity to ask him to bankroll her business schemes. Never asks for loans, only investments.
Next, In Act Four: With a possible sale of his script looming, Todd weighs a final solution to his dilemma.