In the second act , Luckless asks for help to finish his puppet play `` The Pleasures of the Town '' . In the second act , Luckless seeks assistance to help finish his play , The Pleasures of the Town , but is poorly advised , and the work is rejected by his local theater . Luckless revises his play and succeeds in finding an alternative venue , leading to the third act , in which the work is performed as a puppet show , with actors taking the place of the puppets .