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I'm in a high school production of the musical Damn Yankees, and we open in May. I'm playing Gloria Thorpe, and I'm having trouble getting a concept of my character's role in the story.

Damn Yankees is a classic Faustian piece, set in the 50s-60s. In it, Joe, a huge fan of the Washington Senators, makes a deal with the devil to become a baseball player and help the team win the World Series (and beat the Yankees). However, he tricks the devil into giving him an escape clause, so he can return to his wife. The Devil tries to use one of his seductresses to foil Joe, but ultimately Joe's soul is lost because of the Devils' machinations toward the upstanding, moral reporter, Gloria.

Gloria is a sports writer and baseball fan, and is very hung up about the honor and integrity of the game. She initially likes Joe for his sincerity, but changes her mind when she discovers that he's lying about his background. The devil uses her to spread a rumor that ultimately leads to Joe missing his opportunity to enact the escape clause. The devil used a good woman to bring a good, if stupid, man down.

This bothers me, for a lot of reasons. For one, Gloria loses virtually everything in her pursuit of honor in the game (at the expense of her favorite team)--her reputation, her bond with the Senators, her credibility, and probably a great deal of self-respect. For this, what does she get? The liar going back and helping the team win, unfairly. And in the process, she helped to damn Joe, who was ultimately a good man, even if he made few very stupid mistakes. The only thing she seems to have gotten out of it all is some measure of respect from the Devil himself.

What I'm trying to figure out is, how should I play Gloria, in light of all this? Is there some piece of her that I'm missing in trying to understand how it works? Is there any sin she's committed that I can't seem to see? How should I treat her dealings with the devil? Am I missing or misinterpreting the very theme of the story?

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