THE THIRD TRACK is a bold, satirical ensemble play that reimagines the job interview as a high-stakes psychological experiment—set entirely on a subway train. Seven women of color board the same train on their way to what they believe is a final-round interview for a coveted position at INSTITUTE, a corporate giant in urban planning. But when the subway abruptly halts and reroutes onto a mysterious “third track,” the women find themselves unwitting participants in a corporate simulation designed to test their efficiency, adaptability, and loyalty—all under constant surveillance.
The train transforms into a pressure cooker: a reality-show-meets-dystopian-assessment center complete with group exercises, invasive questioning, and algorithm-driven rounds meant to level the playing field. But instead of fairness, what unfolds is a revealing, absurd, and increasingly hostile examination of bias, ambition, and performative diversity. From whispered self-doubts to confrontational monologues, the women confront both the system and one another as they battle not only for a job—but for the right to be seen as whole, complex individuals.
Characters like AMY, who tries to dominate, and PHOEBE, who freezes under pressure but later blooms, expose different survival strategies women of color adopt to succeed. Others—like CLAIRE, still bruised from losing a job to a man, or MAVIS, who’s just here to appease her mom while dreaming of becoming a DJ—unravel under the weight of expectations. When it becomes clear that each candidate was asked different interview questions—so much for fairness—the illusion of objectivity collapses.
As tensions mount, the final round turns vicious, pitting the women against each other in a spectacle of corporate cruelty. The final image asks: what does success mean in a system designed to divide and dehumanize?