Title: The Lottery

Playwright: Shirley Jackson

Synopsis: "The Lottery" is a chilling tale set in a small American town that holds an
annual lottery on June 27th. The townsfolk gather with a sense of tradition and duty,
leading to an unsettling climax that questions conformity and tradition. The play
explores themes of societal pressure and the dark side of human nature, leaving both
characters and audience to ponder the consequences of blindly following rituals.
Cast List:

1. Mrs. Summers
2. Mr. Summers
3. Mrs. Delacroix
4. Dicky
5. Bill
6. Davy
7. Warner
8. Laura
9. Narrator
10. Schoolmaster (John Gunderson)
11. Mrs. Dunbar
12. Mr. Martin
13. Mrs. Martin
14. Mrs. Graves
15. Tessie Hutchinson
16. Grandsire Warner
17. Narrator

[Scene: A small American town square. The sound of a solo violin playing a
bright, folksy fiddle tune sets the tone. We hear it under the dialogue.]
MRS. SUMMERS: Floyd? Floyd!
MR. SUMMERS: (Half-asleep, groans)
MRS. SUMMERS: Floyd Summers, you get up out o’ that bed!

1
MR. SUMMERS: Ohhh, tain’t seven yet.
MRS. SUMMERS: Of course it ain’t.
MR. SUMMERS: (Groans)
MRS. SUMMERS: Now you get up, you hear? It’s Lottery Day!
[Music up for a transition, then under.]
MRS. DELACROIX: Now, Dicky, you eat your cereal.
DICKY: I don’t want no more, Ma.
MRS. DELACROIX: You eat up your cereal ’cause you ain’t gonna have nothing but
sandwiches till supper time.
DICKY: Sandwiches?
MRS. DELACROIX: You heard me. I’m not gonna cook no three hot meals on Lottery
Day.
[Music up for a transition, then under.]
[Sound: Chickens and other farm animals.]
BILL: All right, Davy. That’s enough for the chickens.
DAVY: Shoo! Shoo!
BILL: Come on now, son. We’ve got to fork hay down for the cows. We won’t be back all
day.
DAVY: Ma coming, too? Just like Sunday for church?
BILL: Yeah, that’s right. All folks from the town line’ll be in today for the Lottery.
[Music up for a transition, then under.]
[Sound: Transitions to chickens and other farm animals.]
[Music: Up for a transition, then under.]
WARNER: I can’t find my collar stud. Who took my collar stud?!
LAURA: Now, just don’t fret, Grandsire. It’s around here somewhere.
WARNER: If I can’t find my collar stud, I ain’t going. Seventy-seven lottries I've been
to — never missed a one. Laura, you find my collar stud, you hear?
[Music: Up for punctuation, then in background, fades out at X.]
NARRATOR: The morning of June 27th was clear and sunny, with the fresh warmth of
a full summer day. The flowers were blossoming, and the grass on the town green in
front of the bandstand was a nice warm summer green. [X] The folks in the village and
the farmers inside the township line began to gather in the square between the post
2
office and the bank by about ten o’clock. School was out for the summer, and the kids
came in early to chase around the board sidewalks the way kids will.
DICKY (IN BACKGROUND): One, two, three–
NARRATOR: Bobby Martin and Harry Jones were sitting in front of the post office
swapping stones. Bobby had his pockets full already — nice, smooth round ones. The
girls stood aside, talking among themselves, and looking over their shoulders at the
boys, and the very small children rolled in the dust or clung to the hands of their older
brothers and sisters.
MR. SUMMERS: Morning, John.
SCHOOLMASTER (UNENTHUSIASTIC): Morning, Mr. Summers.
MR. SUMMERS: Nice day for the Lottery, ain’t it?
SCHOOLMASTER: Yes.
MR. SUMMERS: Had rain yesterday up to the North Village. They got to start the
Lottery a day ahead to get it done. Two hundred families.
SCHOOLMASTER: That right?
MR. SUMMERS: Yup. Got to hustle to get the Lottery over with up there. Won’t take
us more than maybe a couple of hours.
SCHOOLMASTER: It seems longer.
MR. SUMMERS: (Chuckles) That’s the way it is with the Lottery. I was talking it over
with Mrs. Summers. It’s the suspense that makes time go slow.
SCHOOLMASTER: Not slow enough.
MR. SUMMERS: You draw this year, don’t you?
SCHOOLMASTER: I guess so.
MR. SUMMERS: Yeah, that’s the rule, all right. Stranger in town draws his second
year.
MRS. DELACROIX (APPROACHES, CHEERFUL): Morning, Mr. Summers;
John.
SCHOOLMASTER: Ma’am.
MR. SUMMERS: Morning, Mrs. Delacroix. In early, I see.
MRS. DELACROIX: Well, I don’t get up to the village often. George doesn’t like to
leave the stock. You going to have the store open after?
MR. SUMMERS: Most likely. Didn’t used to be done.
3
MRS. DELACROIX: Well, you got to be modern, I always say. Excuse me, won’t you?
Martinses just got in. (Moving off) It’s a nice day for it, though. You can say that for a
fact!
[Music: Solo violin … “Skip to My Lou” … Transition.]
[Sound: Horse and buggy rolling down a dirt road, then in background.]
DAVY: Can’t you go faster, Pa? We’ll miss everything!
BILL: Oh, don’t worry, Davy. We’ll get there in plenty of time.
TESSIE (ENTHUSIASTIC): I want to go into Summers’ Store, after, to get some
patterns. Elsie Dunbar told me he’s got some new ones in for short-waisted figures.
BILL (TROUBLED): Let’s not talk about it, Tessie.
TESSIE: What do you mean? I’ve got that flowered stuff left over from last year, and if I
can get a good pattern–
BILL: I don’t want to talk about “after.”
TESSIE: Oh.
BILL: All right. (To horse) Hup, there, gid up! Hup! Hup, there!
[Sound: Horse and buggy speed up a little.]
BILL: I was talking to John Gunderson.
TESSIE: The school teacher?
BILL: (Yes) Mm-hmm. He’s got to draw this year.
TESSIE: It’s only right. Second year in town.
BILL: I told him I was thinking of packing and moving out.
TESSIE: Bill Hutchinson! You crazy?
BILL: I told him I was going to pack the wagon and tie the stock onto the end of it and
just move out.
TESSIE: You mean just — just leave the farm?
BILL: That’s right. I was gonna do it before Lottery Day this year.
TESSIE: That’s crazy, Bill! Where would you settle? Why, your folks have farmed that
ground since heaven knows when!
BILL: Yep, I know. I was gonna just move out. It’s too late now.
TESSIE: (Good-natured) Oh, Bill! You talk the same way every year. No sense to it.
BILL: No. There’s no sense to it.
[Music: Solo violin … brisk transition … then in background, out at X.]
4
NARRATOR: Soon, the men began to gather, standing around smoking, looking at the
kids, talking about planting — rain — tractors — taxes, you know. Dicky Delacroix and a
couple of kids had made a great big pile of stones in one corner of the square and they
were playing “King of the Hill” on it. [X] The men stood together, away from the pile of
stones, watching. Their jokes were quiet and they smiled rather than laughed.
[Music: Solo violin … matches above description … briefly in background.]
[Sound: Crowd background … adults chatter while the kids play off.]
MR. SUMMERS: They’re nice-looking folks, aren’t they, John?
SCHOOLMASTER: Yeah. They’re nice.
MR. SUMMERS: You don’t see ’em all together ‘cept on Lottery Day. Of course,
there’s Sunday in church, but some go to the Congregationalists and some to the Baptist,
and folks like the Dunbars don’t go nowhere.
TESSIE (APPROACHES): Morning, Mr. Summers!
MR. SUMMERS: Morning, Tessie! I’ve got those patterns in!
TESSIE (MOVING OFF): I’ll be over right after.
BILL (GREETING): John.
SCHOOLMASTER: Morning, Bill.
BILL: (Low) I want to talk to you. (Up) Hello, Summers.
MR. SUMMERS: Morning. Don’t worry about me. I’ve got to see about the box and all
for the drawing. (Moving off, to another) Oh, morning, Charlie. How’s the folks?
SCHOOLMASTER: Well, it’s the day.
BILL: Yeah. You going to draw?
SCHOOLMASTER: I’ve got to. That’s the rules.
BILL: You said you wouldn’t! You sat there in the post office and said you wouldn’t!
SCHOOLMASTER: I know, but I’d have to leave town and it isn’t easy to get another
school this late.
BILL: Well – Anyways, you only draw for yourself. Tessie keeps talking about “after”;
starts me to sweating. She keeps talking about buying a pattern up to Summers’ Store,
after. Short-waisted, she said.
SCHOOLMASTER: I suppose you get used to it. I suppose if you’ve always had it, you
don’t think about it.
BILL: I don’t! I lived in the village all my life. I don’t get used to it.
5
[Sound: Davy’s running footsteps approach.]
DAVY: (Excited) Pa! Can I stay with Dicky Delacroix? Can I stay with him?
BILL: No, you’ve got to stay with the family, Davy.
DAVY: (Pleads) Pa, the other kids got all the stones. Can’t I stay with him?
BILL: Davy, I said–
[Sound: Davy runs off.]
BILL: Davy! Come here, Davy! David! (Beat, to Schoolmaster) Look at that. He’s having
fun. All the kids are having fun. Why? That’s what I want to know. Why?
SCHOOLMASTER: You’re a farmer. You know the answer.
BILL: You told me you couldn’t find anything in the books says it has to be. It stands to
reason you’d find it in the books, don’t it?
SCHOOLMASTER: This isn’t my part of the country, Hutchinson. I don’t make the
rules.
BILL: Well, don’t it stand to reason you could try to find out the truth? That’s all I say.
SCHOOLMASTER: You can’t argue with the folks about the Lottery. I’ve tried.
BILL: No. You can’t argue with folks. (Grudging) Well, anyways, it’s a nice day for it.
[Music: Solo violin … brisk transition.]
WARNER: It ain’t right! I’ve been telling them, year after year — it ain’t right!
LAURA: Now, Grandsire, take it easy.
WARNER: Now, you listen to me, Floyd Summers! I’m the oldest man in the village.
Seventy-seven years I’ve been in the Lottery. Seventy-seven years!
MR. SUMMERS (HEARD IT ALL BEFORE): Yeah, I know that, Mr. Warner, but–
WARNER: Don’t “but” me! No, sir! Don’t “but” me. I know what’s right about the
Lottery. It ought to be chips of wood! One chip with the name of every family, all in the
big black box.
MR. SUMMERS: We can’t do it that way, Grandsire, you know that. The box ain’t big
enough.
WARNER: That’s the way it was when I was a boy. Chips of wood! None of this here
bitty pieces of paper. (Scornful) Paper, huh! What kind of a Lottery you expect to have
with paper?
MR. SUMMERS: Well, there’s too many folks in the village for wood any more.

6
WARNER: (Disgusted) Ahhh! Nobody pays any mind to the old ways. There ought to
be marching, too. I – I remember marching and – and somebody sort of – of chanting,
like! That’s what there ought to be on Lottery Day!
MR. SUMMERS: Ahh, that was a long time ago. Nobody ‘members that any more.
WARNER: Yes, that’s the trouble! Nobody remembers. Now you take that black box–
MR. SUMMERS: It’s cracking. We ought to make a new one.
WARNER: A new one?! Listen to him! A new box? Why, they used that box in my
father’s time for the Lottery. And he told me it’s made from the pieces of the box in his
grandfather’s time! Now, you’re supposed to be in charge of that box. Why, I saw it year
before last lying in Graves’ barn. And this year it sat right on the shelf in your store! Now
is that any way to take care of that box? They don’t run the lottery the way they used to!
Hey, I’ve been in it seventy-seven years and I ought to know!
[Music: Solo violin … for punctuation … then a brief transition.]
BILL: (Low) Tessie? Tessie, come here.
TESSIE: What? Oh, excuse me, Mrs. Delacroix.
MRS. DELACROIX: All right, Tessie.
[Sound: Tessie's footsteps to Bill.]
BILL: Tessie?
TESSIE: What is it, Bill?
BILL: Where’s Davy?
TESSIE: Playing with the other children; there by the stones.
BILL: Get him over here.
TESSIE: Why?
BILL: We’re hitching up and getting out.
TESSIE: Oh, we’ve got to wait for the drawing. We can’t go now.
BILL: I said, we’re going now.
TESSIE: Oh, Bill, don’t be silly. First place, we came all the way into the village for the
Lottery. Second place, Summers’ won’t be open till after. And I want to get those
patterns.
BILL: “After”? Don’t you understand? Suppose– Suppose–
TESSIE: Bill, I’m surprised at you. Why, nobody else acts this way. You – you’ve just
got to take it as it comes. You’re a farmer, you know that!
7
BILL: What’s that got to do with it?
TESSIE: Well, you didn’t take on when the hog died of cholera before killing time. You
just went on.
BILL: But that’s different. It just happened. You can’t help it if stock gets sick.
TESSIE: See? That’s what I mean.
BILL: (Beat) You won’t go?
TESSIE: No, I won’t; neither will you! I don’t get into the village often and Lottery Day
is one time I can see all the other women and talk. I’m not going back till it’s all over and
supper time! (Chuckles) My goodness, Bill, you’d think it was something unusual.
Lottery comes every year. It always has.
[Music: Solo violin … brief, somber transition … then under behind.]
NARRATOR: The Lottery was conducted — as were the square dances, the teenage
club, and the Halloween program — by Mr. Summers, who had time and energy to
devote to civic affairs. He was a round-faced, jovial man, and the people were sorry for
him because he had no children and his wife was a scold. He was busy in the middle of
the square with a little black box, setting it up and balancing it on a three-legged stool.
[Sound: Crowd background.]
MR. SUMMERS: One of you folks want to give me a hand with the box? Mr. Martin?
MR. MARTIN: All right, Floyd.
MR. SUMMERS: Here, just hold it on that corner steady there.
MAN (OFF, JOKINGLY): Watch his hands, Summers!
[Sound: Some in the crowd laugh ... crowd settles down to a murmur
behind.]
MR. SUMMERS (TO ALL): Now, we’re going to do this fair and square just like
always. Now, last night, up at the coal company office, Mr. Graves and I made up the
slips of paper.
WARNER: It ought to be chips of wood! What kind of piddling Lottery can you have
with slips of–?
LAURA: Now, Grandsire, don’t you interrupt Mr. Summers.
MR. SUMMERS (CONTINUES, TO ALL): They’re in the box here. Anybody wants
to, can haul ’em out and check ’em over. Time now for the swearing-in. Mr. Graves will
administer the oath to me. I expect, as usual, we’ll waive election.
8
WARNER: Didn’t used to be no election. Used to pass from father to son!
MR. GRAVES: All right, all right! Do you, Floyd Summers, solemnly swear to carry out
the duties of this Lottery without fear, favor or prejudice, bias or any other untoward
acts of omission or commission, so help you?
MR. SUMMERS: I do.
MRS. SUMMERS: You tell ’em, Floyd!
[Sound: Some in the crowd laugh ... crowd settles down to a murmur
behind.]
MR. SUMMERS (TO ALL): Well, I expect now we’re ready. We’ll proceed as usual,
drawing by family, as according to the rules.
MRS. MARTIN (APPROACHES): Wait a minute! You wait a minute, Floyd
Summers!
[Sound: Crowd stirs briefly, then settles down to a murmur.]
MR. SUMMERS: Looks like another interruption. Oh! Morning, Mrs. Martin!
MRS. MARTIN: How do you like that? Clean forgot what day it was! Hello, Tessie!
[Sound: Tessie and other women greet Mrs. Martin.]
MRS. MARTIN: Thought my old man was out back stacking wood. Then I looked out
the window and the kids was gone and I remembered it was the twenty-seventh and
came a-running! Did I miss anything?
MRS. DELACROIX: Oh, you’re in time. They’re still talking away up there!
MR. SUMMERS: We was just beginning, Mrs. Martin. Now, you just take your place
with your family.
MRS. MARTIN: Hands still wet from the dishwater!
MR. SUMMERS (TO ALL): Well now, I guess we better get started. Let’s get this over
with, so’s we can get back to work. Ain’t everybody here? Huh? Well, now, let’s– This
ain’t the drawing; just checking the list. Now, uh– (Reads) Adams? (No answer) Adams?
(To Adams) Well! Glad to see ya. I missed you last Saturday.
[Sound: As he calls more names, Mr. Summers’ voice fades to background
during the next two lines.]
TESSIE: I guess you made it after all, huh, Mrs. Martin?
MRS. MARTIN: Well, now, Tessie, between you and me, I knew it was Lottery Day,
but you wouldn’t have me leave the dishes in the sink now, would you? (Laughs)
9
MR. SUMMERS: (Reads) Dunbar? (No answer) Dunbar? (No answer)
[Sound: Crowd stirs briefly, then settles down to a murmur.]
WARNER: Where’s Dunbar?
MRS. DELACROIX: Dunbar? Come on!
MR. SUMMERS (TO ALL): Who draws for Dunbar? Clyde broke his leg, didn’t he?
Now, who’s drawing for him?
MRS. DUNBAR: Well, I guess I draw.
MR. SUMMERS: Oh, that’s right. That’s the rule — wife draws for husband. ‘Cepting
you’ve got a grown boy to do it for you, haven’t you, Janie?
MRS. DUNBAR: Well, Horace is not but sixteen yet. Guess I got to fill in for the old
man this year.
MR. SUMMERS: All right. I’ve got that checked. Watson boy drawing this year? (No
answer) Yeah–? Oh, there you are, Charlie! Good to see your mother’s got a man to do it.
(With a twinkle) I suppose Old Man Warner’s here.
WARNER: You know darned well I’m here, Floyd Summers! I was just talking to you! I
ain’t missed a Lottery in seventy-seven years!
MR. SUMMERS (CHUCKLES): All right, Grandsire, I was just joking. (To all) Well,
that gets the list straight. All the rest is straight families. ‘Less anybody’s got anything to
add, we’re ready for the drawing.
[Sound: Crowd stirs briefly ("Yeah, I got nothing to say," "No, go ahead,"
etc.), then settles down to a murmur.]
MR. SUMMERS: Now, then– Adams? Adams?
[Sound: Crowd stirs briefly ("Adams?," "Adams’s coming," "There he is;
he’s coming," etc.) … Adams’ footsteps to box … crowd murmurs and
comments as each participant draws from the box.]
MR. SUMMERS: Yeah, hi, Steve. Just draw any one. Don’t look at it till after.
[Sound: Adams draws slip ... his footsteps away.]
MR. SUMMERS: Next– Adamson? Adamson?
[Sound: Adamson’s footsteps to box, draws slip.]
MR. SUMMERS: Right, that does it.
[Sound: Adamson’s footsteps away.]
MR. SUMMERS: Anderson? Anderson?
10
MRS. MARTIN: It seems like they changed the order o’ drawing, don’t it, Tessie?
TESSIE: Oh, no. That’s the way it’s always been.
MRS. MARTIN: Seems like there’s just no time at all between Lotteries any more.
Seems like we got through with the last one only last week. I declare, the way time flies.
TESSIE: Time sure goes fast.
MR. SUMMERS: Delacroix? Delacroix?
MRS. DELACROIX (SLIGHTLY TENSE): There goes my old man.
TESSIE: Now, don’t worry, Agnes.
MR. SUMMERS: Dunbar? Dunbar?
TESSIE: That’s you, Janie!
MRS. DUNBAR (SELF-CONSCIOUS): Well, if you ladies will excuse me–
TESSIE (CHUCKLES):
MR. SUMMERS: Come on, Janie, you’re holding us up!
MRS. DELACROIX: There she goes!
MRS. DUNBAR: I’m coming, I’m coming!
TESSIE: Folks shouldn’t hold up the Lottery! It takes up a perfectly good morning as it
is. Last year, I didn’t get time for half the things I meant to do in town!
MRS. MARTIN: You’re right, Tessie! My old man says he don’t like Lottery Day ’cause
I always run the bill up at Summers’ sky high!
MR. SUMMERS: Gunderson? John Gunderson?
MRS. DELACROIX: There goes the schoolmaster.
SCHOOLMASTER: I’m not going to draw, Mr. Summers.
[Sound: Crowd stirs briefly ("What?" "He’s got to draw!")]
MR. SUMMERS: Now, John, you know the rules. This is your second year in the
village.
SCHOOLMASTER: I know. But I’m not going to draw.
GRAVES: Now don’t be contrary, boy.
MRS. DUNBAR: Everybody draws in the Lottery! What makes you better,
Schoolmaster?
SCHOOLMASTER: I don’t believe in it.
MR. SUMMERS: Now, that isn’t the point, John, and you know it.
WARNER: Listen to him! He don’t believe in the Lottery! You hear that?
11
LAURA: Now take it easy, Grandsire.
WARNER: Why, we’ve always had the Lottery! Everybody knows that! Always have
and always will.
SCHOOLMASTER: Over in the North Village, they’re talking of giving up the Lottery.
WARNER: A pack of crazy fools in North Village! Listen to this idiot! Nothing’s good
enough for him. Next thing you know, they’ll be wanting to go back to living in caves —
nobody work anymore! Live like that for a while, and—
SCHOOLMASTER: They don’t have the Lottery up where I come from. Stopped it
years ago.
WARNER: Yeah, maybe so, but we ain’t fools. Not here. Used to be a saying, “Lottery
in June, corn’ll grow soon.” You listen to him with his books and ciphering, first thing
you know, we’ll all be eating stewed chickweed and acorns!
TESSIE: You’re right, Grandsire!
[Sound: Crowd murmurs agreement.]
WARNER: Yeah, sure. There’s always been a Lottery! Bad enough it ain’t what it used
to be, with Floyd Summers up there joking and all. But there’s always been a Lottery!
SCHOOLMASTER: But why? Why? I tell you, they stopped it up north — more
villages every year — and the corn grows just as high!
WARNER: Nothing but trouble in that! Pack of fools!
MR. MARTIN: Now, you ain’t no farmer, Gunderson! Old man Warner’s right—
WARNER: Yes, sir!
MR. MARTIN: “Lottery in June, corn’ll grow soon.” That’s the way it’s always been.
MRS. MARTIN: You can’t get around that, schoolmaster! “Lottery in June—”
SCHOOLMASTER: But nobody knows! You’ve never tried. You just go on and on
every year, the same way!
WARNER: You’re darn tootin’! And we’re going right on just like we always done!
What call has a young outsider to talk that way on Lottery Day? That’s what I’d like to
know!
MAN: Now don’t get raw, Grandsire.
WARNER: Seventy-seven years I’ve been coming to Lottery Day.

12
SCHOOLMASTER: But can’t you see there’s no reason for it? No reason! Year after
year, for generations, on June twenty-seventh? If you’d only think. If you’d only try! If
you were willing to use reason instead of blind obedience to a crazy outworn tradition!
[Sound: Crowd murmurs increasing skepticism during the above.]
MR. SUMMERS: That’ll be about enough now, John. You spoke your piece. Now, we
better get down to business. Rules say if anybody balks, the committee draws for him.
Now, ain’t that right, folks?
[Sound: Crowd agrees.]
WARNER: It certainly is! That’s right!
MR. SUMMERS: Now, I’m going to call you again regular and proper. If you stand
mute, we’ll go right on and draw for you. Now, which is it?
SCHOOLMASTER (GIVES IN, RELUCTANT): All right. All right. I’ll go.
MR. SUMMERS: Fine. Fine.
[Sound: Crowd murmurs approval … Schoolmaster’s footsteps to box …
draws slip, footsteps away.]
MR. SUMMERS: Now, let’s get on. Hutchinson? Bill Hutchinson?
TESSIE: Get on up there, Bill.
MRS. DELACROIX: There goes your man, Tessie.
TESSIE: Imagine the schoolmaster making such a fuss! He’s no better than the rest.
Everybody draws on Lottery Day!
[Music: Solo violin … transition.]
MR. SUMMERS: All right, sir. Now the last one. Warner?
WARNER (EAGER): Yes, sir! I’m right here!
[Sound: Warner’s footsteps to box … slowly, during the following—]
MR. SUMMERS (AMUSED): All right, Grandsire, take it easy. No rush.
WARNER: This makes the seventy-seventh year I’ve been in the Lottery. Yes, sir!
Seventy-seven times!
MR. SUMMERS: Draw your slip, now.
WARNER: Yep.
[Sound: Warner draws slip.]
MR. SUMMERS: All right, it’s all done. Martin, close the box.
MR. MARTIN (GRUNTS WITH EFFORT AS—):
13
[Sound: The wooden box is shut … the crowd stirs eagerly.]
MRS. MARTIN: Who’s got it? What family?
MAN: I ain’t. I ain’t got it.
LAURA (VERY EAGER): Grandsire, let me see your paper. Let me see it.
WARNER: You let go of my hand, you hear? I can take care of myself.
DICKY: Ma? Ma, is it us? Is it us, Ma?
MRS. DELACROIX: Well, for goodness sake! What family is it? Who’s got it?!
[Sound: Crowd grows silent behind—]
MR. SUMMERS (TO ALL): All right. All right. All right, folks! Now, let’s do this
orderly! Come now; come on. Now, what family’s got the black slip?
MRS. MARTIN (BEAT): It’s the Hutchinsons. There! Look, Bill Hutchinson’s got it!
[Sound: Crowd stirs a little ("Hutchinson?" "Yeah, that’s right.")]
MRS. DUNBAR (LOW, QUICK): Peggy? Peggy, you run and tell your father it’s the
Hutchinsons; go on, run!
TESSIE (STARTS TO PANIC): It isn’t fair! It isn’t fair! Floyd Summers, I saw you!
You didn’t give him time to take any slip he wanted. I saw ya; it wasn’t fair!
MRS. DELACROIX: Now, Tessie, be a good sport.
MRS. GRAVES: All of us took the same chance.
TESSIE: It isn’t fair, I tell you! It isn’t fair!
BILL (EMBARRASSED, WHISPERS): Shut up, Tessie.
MR. SUMMERS (PLEASED, TO ALL): Well, now, everybody, that was done pretty
fast. Just one hour and two minutes.
[Sound: Crowd murmurs appreciatively, then in background.]
MR. SUMMERS (TO ALL): Now, we’ve got to be hurrying a little more to get done
before noon.
TESSIE: It wasn’t fair!
MR. SUMMERS: Now, Bill, uh, let’s see. You draw for the Hutchinson family, don’t
you? You got any other households in the Hutchinsons?
TESSIE (DESPERATE): There’s Don and Eva! Make them take their chance! Make
them draw!
MR. SUMMERS: Now, Tessie, Eva’s your daughter, but she’s married now. Daughters
draw with their husbands’ families, you know that as well as anyone else.
14
TESSIE (STARTS TO CRY): It wasn’t fair.
BILL: I guess that’s it, Floyd. My daughter draws with her husband’s family, that’s only
fair.
MR. SUMMERS: Well, now, Bill?
BILL: I guess there’s just us, Floyd — Davy, Tessie, and me.
MR. SUMMERS: All right now. And, as far as drawing for families is concerned, it’s
you. And as far as drawing for households is concerned, that’s you, too?
BILL: Yes, that’s right.
MR. SUMMERS: Martin, you give me the tickets for the Hutchinsons, all three of 'em.
You got their tickets back?
MR. MARTIN: I got ’em. They’re in the box, Floyd.
MR. SUMMERS: All set then.
TESSIE (INTENSE): I — I think we ought to start over.
MR. SUMMERS: Now, Tessie—
[Sound: Crowd stirs.]
TESSIE (TEARFUL): I tell ya, it wasn’t fair! He didn’t give him time enough to
choose. Everybody saw that!
MR. SUMMERS: We’ll have to get on now. Are you ready, Bill?
TESSIE: Listen, everybody! Listen! You’ve got to listen! It wasn’t fair — you could see
that.
MR. SUMMERS: Ready, Bill?
BILL: Ready.
MR. SUMMERS: Davy picks first, then you, then Tessie. Now, you got that? Here,
help little Dave.
BILL: Davy, come here.
DAVY: Sure, Pa.
TESSIE: It wasn’t fair. Mrs. Delacroix, you could see! They didn’t give him time!
MRS. DELACROIX: Now, don’t make a fuss, Tessie. It ain’t fittin’.
MR. SUMMERS: All right now, Bill. You take the slips and keep ’em folded till
everybody picks. Come on, Davy.
BILL: Go on, son.
[Sound: Davy’s footsteps to box.]
15
MR. SUMMERS: Now, Davy — I want you to pick a piece of paper out of this box and
hold it tight, you understand?
DAVY: Sure, Mr. Summers.
MR. SUMMERS: All right. Pick now. (Beat, chuckles) Just — just one paper, Davy.
DAVY: I got one!
MR. SUMMERS: Good. Now, you better hold it for him, Martin.
MR. MARTIN: All set.
MR. SUMMERS: All right, Bill — one paper. (Beat) That’s right. (Beat) Now Tessie.
TESSIE: Oh, no. No, it wasn’t fair.
BILL (LOW): Tessie, you’ve got to draw.
MR. SUMMERS: Come on, Tessie.
TESSIE: (Beat) All right. All right.
[Sound: Crowd stirs a little.]
MRS. GRAVES (LOW): I hope it ain’t the child. Don’t seem right.
WARNER: Yeah, it’s not the way it used to be. I tell you, it ought to be chips of wood.
Lottery ain’t like it used to be. People ain’t the way they used to be.
[Sound: Crowd murmurs agreement … then grows silent behind.]
MR. SUMMERS: Quiet now, folks. Now, let’s open the papers. Davy?
MR. MARTIN: Come on, Davy, open your paper.
[Sound: Davy opens paper.]
DAVY (INNOCENTLY): There’s nothing on it.
MR. SUMMERS: Well.
[Sound: Crowd reacts, pleased.]
MR. SUMMERS: Bill?
BILL (FLAT): Mine’s blank.
MR. SUMMERS: Then I guess it’s Tessie.
TESSIE (HORRIFIED): Oh, no. No— (starts to weep hysterically)
MR. SUMMERS: Show us her paper, Bill. Just the rules.
BILL: Tessie, open your hand.
TESSIE: No! No, no, no—
BILL (WITH EFFORT): Come on, now. Open your hand.
TESSIE (WEEPS, CONTINUES IN BACKGROUND).
16
MR. SUMMERS: Yep, it’s Tessie, all right.
[Sound: Crowd murmurs expectantly.]
DICKY (TO MRS. DELACROIX): Ma, I’m going over by the pile of stones, all right?
MR. SUMMERS (TO ALL): All right, folks — let’s finish quickly now.
TESSIE: No, no, no! It isn’t fair! Oh, Bill! Bill! No, Bill—! (weeps)
BILL (LOW, APOLOGETIC): It’s too late, Tessie. There’s nothing I can do.
MRS. DUNBAR: Come on, Mrs. Delacroix, we’d better get a good stone before they’re
all gone.
MRS. DELACROIX: Oh, Dicky’ll save one for me.
MRS. DUNBAR: Well, hurry up. She’ll be running soon.
TESSIE: It wasn’t fair! There wasn’t time! Oh, Bill! Bill, please! Bill!
BILL (TRIES TO REASON WITH HER): You heard ’em, Tessie — “Lottery in June,
corn’ll grow soon.”
TESSIE: It isn’t true! It isn’t true!
DICKY: Ma, here’s a stone for you. Here, Ma.
MRS. DELACROIX: Aw, that’s a nice boy, Dicky. Mmmm! What a nice big stone!
MRS. DUNBAR: Well, you’ll have to go ahead and I’ll catch up with you. Can’t run at
all with arthritis in my knees.
MRS. DELACROIX: All right. There’s Davy. (Calls) Davy?! Davy, come here.
DAVY: Yes, ma’am?
MRS. DELACROIX: Now here’s a little stone for you. Take it.
DAVY (PLEASED): Sure.
MRS. DELACROIX: Now, you come along with me, Davy.
DAVY: Sure, I don’t wanna miss the fun. We’ve got to run after Ma now, huh?
MRS. DELACROIX: That’s right, Davy. Come on!
TESSIE: It isn’t fair! Listen, everybody! They didn’t give him time! It wasn’t fair!
MR. SUMMERS: Come on, everybody! (To Mrs. Delacroix) Agnes—?
MRS. DELACROIX: Come on, Davy, throw your stone. Go on, throw your stone!
TESSIE (HYSTERICAL): It isn’t fair; it isn’t right! Oh, Bill! Bill, you can’t let them—
Not me! It can’t be me! Oh, it wasn’t fair. They can’t do it to me. Agnes, Emily, you can’t!
You can’t really! Not me!
MRS. DELACROIX: Go on, Davy. Now, throw your stone!
17
TESSIE (PEAK OF HYSTERIA): No! No, not the stones! No, it isn’t right! Oh, Davy!
Davy! My own baby! Don’t! Don’t!
DAVY (GRUNTS WITH EFFORT).
[Sound: Stone hits Tessie.]
TESSIE (SCREAMS).
[Sound: Crowd cheers … then laughs, hollers happily, and starts throwing
stones … fades out … pause.]
[Music: Solo violin … a placid bridge … then under.]
NARRATOR: It was all over by noon. The sun was hot on the square, and the men
stood around the blacksmith shop, smoking and talking about planting and tractors and
taxes. And the women gathered in Summers' and bought yard goods and patterns and
notions. The little children played in the dust, throwing pebbles at each other. The
Lottery was over for this year. "Lottery in June, corn’ll grow soon." Next year? Next June
twenty-seventh? Well, maybe we’ll learn. Maybe there’ll be no Lottery. Maybe we’ll
begin to reason, to find the truth. Maybe we’ll find out we don’t have to pick out folks in
the Lottery just because our fathers and their fathers did it, because it always was that
way. Maybe next year there won’t be a Lottery. It’s up to all of us. Chances are, there will
be, though.
[Music: Solo violin … to a quiet finish.]
1. Mrs. Summers
o Background: She is the wife of Mr. Summers. Although not extensively detailed
in the script, she represents the typical village housewife supportive of the town's
traditions.
2. Mr. Summers
o Background: As the conductor of the lottery and a central figure in the town,
Mr. Summers is responsible for managing the event. He is depicted as a jovial
man, involved in civic duties, yet adheres strictly to the lottery tradition.
3. Mrs. Delacroix
o Background: A friend of Tessie and a sociable townsperson. She initially
interacts with Tessie amicably but ultimately participates in the lottery's violent
conclusion, highlighting the complex human behavior in the face of tradition.
4. Dicky Delacroix
18
o Background: The young son of Mrs. Delacroix, he represents the youth of the
village who are accustomed to the lottery's customs from an early age.
5. Bill Hutchinson
o Background: Husband of Tessie Hutchinson. He initially tries to quietly comply
with the lottery but becomes a focal point when his family is selected. He tries to
calm Tessie and accepts the lottery’s outcome, reflecting the ingrained acceptance
of tradition.
6. Davy Hutchinson
o Background: The young son of Bill and Tessie Hutchinson. His innocence is
highlighted in contrast to the grim reality of the lottery, representing the impact
of societal rituals on the young.
7. Old Man Warner
o Background: The oldest man in the village and staunch supporter of the lottery.
He embodies tradition and resists any notion of change, believing the lottery is
essential for the town’s wellbeing.
8. Laura
o Background: A villager helping Warner find his collar stud. Her role supports
the portrayal of village life and the communal preparation for the lottery.
9. Narrator
o Background: Provides context and background information to the audience,
setting the scene and describing the events and atmosphere of the day.
10. Schoolmaster (John Gunderson)
o Background: A relatively new member of the community who voices skepticism
about the lottery, reflecting outsider perspectives and the questioning of outdated
traditions.
11. Mrs. Dunbar
o Background: A villager who participates in the lottery and is forced to draw for
her injured husband. Her participation illustrates further compliance and
acceptance of tradition.
12. Mr. Martin
o Background: A villager assisting Mr. Summers with the lottery proceedings.
His involvement shows the community’s collective effort in upholding the ritual.
19
13. Mrs. Martin
o Background: Another villager who's like the rest, is supportive of traditional
practices and engages in the lottery routine without question.
14. Mrs. Graves
o Background: Another townsperson who partakes in the lottery. She is seen
aligning with the rules and traditions that govern the village life.
15. Tessie Hutchinson
o Background: The wife of Bill Hutchinson and mother to their children, Tessie
becomes the center of the story’s conflict when her family draws the marked slip.
Her protests underscore the play’s themes of blind tradition and societal norms.
16. Grandsire Warner
o Background: Also referred to as Old Man Warner, further emphasizing his age
and long-standing adherence to tradition. His views represent the older
generation’s resistance to change.

20