Inbox Zero is the story of Jackie, who sells corporate personality tests of dubious merit and struggles to support the growing costs of raising a child. When he receives an e-mail promising him fabulous wealth if he helps a deposed foreign official move funds out from overseas, his desire for monetary gain supersedes his understanding of human nature and he allows himself to fall for an Advance-Fee Scam. Soon Jackie is laundering obviously bad checks and convincing himself he isn’t a criminal. When the scammers require more and more of Jackie’s own money, Jackie begins reaching for the vacation fund, the college fund, the retirement fund. Deep in a hole of lies, misdeeds, self-delusion, and on the precipice of self-destruction, Jackie ultimately decides to come clean, with a new understanding of how the pursuit of fortune makes fools of us all, and how the hustler can become the hustled.
Inbox Zero – the title refers to the corporate technique of keeping your inbox empty – speaks to the pressures placed on the individual by late capitalism and the global economy in the 21st century, when everybody has a “hustle.”
8:00 pm with post-show audience talkback to follow
Reading runs approximately 75 minutes with post-show audience talkback to follow