Secret Order

by Bob Clyman

Directed by: Gary Barker

Characters

WILLIAM SHUMWAY, early 30s. Immunologist. A passionately curious scientist in cancer research and rising star at the Hill-Matheson Institute. By nature, gentle and isolated. 

ROBERTA (or ROBERT) BROCK, 50s. Immunologist and Director of Hill- Matheson, SHUMWAY's mentor, a charismatic person of great intelligence and ambition. More awkward in her (or his) personal life but capable of a gruff kind of affection. (Could be male or female depending on casting.)

ALICE CURITON, 21. A student in SHUMWAY's lab. A bright, "mouthy" spitfire, indifferent to etiquette. 

SAUL ROTH, 67. Chief of Toxicology at Hill-Matheson. Plays at being the amiable philosopher but is in fact a very political animal. BROCK's rival for power. 

SYNOPSIS

William Shumway, a young, idealistic cellular biologist with a brilliant new idea for curing cancer, is recruited from a relative obscurity to Hill-Matheson, a major cancer research institute, by its charismatic director, Dr. Brock, with the offer of his own lab and all the resources he will need to pursue that idea.  As the pressure to show publishable results begins to build, fueled by unexpected competition from a rival lab at Oxford and the politically agile head of another department who has resentfully seen his own budget slashed to free up more funding for Shumway's lab, his research suddenly hits a snag.  He is faced with having to choose between full disclosure of the problem, which would jeopardize the funding he needs, and making the more expedient decision to bend the rules just a little, which will buy him enough additional time to solve the problem.