Julie Louise Langsdorf

White Elephant

The White Elephant looms large over the quaint town of Willard Park—literally. It soars over the other houses, boasting several times the height and square footage of the average humble home. When, in an effort to make the faux mansion more appealing to a buyer, builder Nick Cox chainsaws down the red maple neighbor Ted and Allison Miller planted for their daughter, it’s the shot across the bow that turns Willard Park into a war zone. In this cock-eyed Romeo and Juliet tale of neighbor hating neighbor, and neighbor falling head over heels for neighbor, trees are mysteriously rooted up, playgrounds vandalized, fires set, houses broken into and criminal accusations made, as formerly peaceful Willard Park becomes a tinder box with seemingly no where to go but up in flames. White Elephant is a comedy about a community seeking to define itself in an age when one person’s American Dream is not necessarily that of his or her neighbor’s.