The first act takes place in “a room in the Wright-Dobie School for girls, a converted farmhouse about ten miles from the town of Lancet, Massachusetts” (5). Mrs. Lily Mortar, a “plump, florid woman of forty-five” (5), sits in a large chair with her eyes closed. Eight girls, ages 12 to 14, surround her. Six of the girls are sewing, and one, Evelyn Munn, is trimming another girl, Rosalie’s, hair. Peggy Rogers, the eighth girl, is reading out loud from The Merchant of Venice, and is bored. Mrs. Mortar opens her eyes, scolding Evelyn to stop haircutting and return to her sewing. Evelyn lisps that she “can’t get the hem thtrait” (6), displaying the dress she has ruined. Mrs. Mortar suggests that Evelyn repurpose the fabric and “be clever about it. Women must learn these tricks” (6). Mrs. Mortar prompts Peggy to keep reading, criticizing the child’s acting. She tells the girls that she had “many offers” to be in the movies, “but the cinema is a shallow art” (7). Mrs. Mortar reprimands another girl, Lois, for practicing for her Latin test and begins reciting the lines from Shakespeare herself.

Mary, another girl, sneaks into the room.