Patterns at Theatre 40 at The Reuben Cordova Theatre

There have been dramatic narratives warning us that Big Corporations Are Bad for nearly a hundred years, from The Adding Machine (1923) to Too Big to Fail (2011), but it was Rod Serling's television drama Patterns (1955) that would (you should pardon the expression) take us to another dimension. Patterns, like no other drama before nor since, depicts the emotional wreckage that corporate culture can inflict on individuals. Fred Staples is a Bright Young Man on his way up as a rising executive at Ramsey & Company. In addition to the great job, he has a beautiful wife who truly loves him (even if she is a bit pushy; after all, she's pushy for the two of them). And he's found a Best Friend in a senior executive at his new firm, Andy Sloane. It's not too long, however, before Fred is brought to the chilling realization that he is being groomed to replace his buddy Andy, whom the firm's president wants removed from the company. How far will Fred go to further his ambitions? Can he possibly advance in the business world without losing sight of his morals and ideals? What compromises will he be willing to make? What will they do to his relationships with his wife and his best friend?