THE MOORS by Jen Silverman: an analysis for production

from the series “by Nancy”

Mastiff: What do you think of happiness?

Moor–Hen. Of what-now? 

Mastiff. Happiness? 

Moor-Hen. I don’t know what that is. 

Mastiff. It’s this feeling like a clench, like a fist, like right where your heart is but further underneath. It hurts and then it’s gone, and then you want it again. 

Moor-Hen. So… indigestion.

(text, p23-24)

TPT Commentary: The Brontë  sisters’ female protagonists were repeatedly trapped in a world where the only options open to them were marriage, or a choice between the professions of school mistress or governess. They are helpless victims in a world of dark, powerful, secretive and mysterious men. 

“The Moors” by Jen Silverman is a surreal black comedy satire of those tropes frequently employed by Charlotte, Emily, and Anne. However, instead of accepting their subjection, Silverman’s characters aspire to overcome it…ruthlessly. Deception, starvation,  imprisonment, and murder are all on the menu. In this mock-Britannia,  love and cruelty are in the nature of all God’s creatures and have no boundaries, even the unexpected and forbidden love between a hunting dog and a game bird. With “The Moors,” Silverman unravels and upends the repeated motifs (and flaws) of Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights with both hilarious and shocking effect. 

Recommendation:  Highly recommended, but in a very balanced season. Neither the title nor the playwright lend enough notoriety to leverage ticket sales. There are some subject matter and violence caveats to consider (see below). Strong roles for leading women. Between 3/6/2023 and 4/7/2024, there are 8 currently planned productions, in 7 US states (4 Midwest). I will drop my “anywhere in America but New York,” criteria as this play is not really set in any real location. 

Summary: Concord Theatricals https://www.concordtheatricals.com/p/60712/the-moors Two sisters and a dog live out their lives on the bleak English moors, dreaming of love and power. The arrival of a hapless governess and a moor-hen set all three on a strange and dangerous path. The Moors is a dark comedy about love, desperation, and visibility.

Themes: betrayal, love, human nature, gender roles, morality, class disparity  

Cast: 5f, 1m 

2 spinster sisters (30-60), one capable of singing a rock power ballad 

1 younger, but adult governess (20s), plays a stringed instrument and sings

1 female servant

1 female (20-60): “The Mock-hen,” in a human form

1 Male, (20-60): “The Mastiff,”  in a human form

“All characters have accents native to the country of production.”

Culturally conscious casting opportunities: “Casting is best when very diverse.” All characters are by playwright’s direction non-specific to ethnicity. Silverman is adamant that BIPOC should NOT be limited to playing the two animal characters. All characters are specific to gender.

Running Time: The Moors is written to be performed without an intermission (there are many scene breaks)

105 Minutes (https://www.concordtheatricals.com/p/60712/the-moors)

1 hour 45 minutes. https://www.lamda.ac.uk/whats-on/performances-lamda/moors 

1 hour, 50 minutes. https://americanplayers.org/plays/the-moors 

1hr, 40 minutes https://www.theatreinchicago.com/the-moors/11434/ 

1 hour and 45 minutes with one 15 minute intermission. https://murphyscreektheatre.org/the-moors/ 

Sets: 2 locations 

1. “The parlor of an elegant, ancient mansion on the English moors. 1840-ish, to a degree.” Also used as 2 bed chambers, a scullery, and 2 sitting rooms without changing any furnishings
2. The moors: perhaps the closed curtain with a gobo, or a drop in front of the first set

Costumes: “Victorian” with loose interpretation.  There may be some suggestions of animal traits but not full-on dog and chicken costumes. One costume for each actor is sufficient. 

Props: period settees or chairs, letters, polishing rag, silverware, hairbrush, human-sized “nest,” a rustic bench/seating area, feathers, blood, hand-axe, heavy vase/ candlestick/statuette used for blunt force murder. 

Period notes: “1840-ish.” Dogged authenticity will diminish the playwright’s intent

Playwright:

Biography: https://www.jensilverman.com/about/  

The Moors premiered at Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven, CT in February 2016 under the direction of Jackson Gay.

Reviews: 

Yale Repertory Theatre, New Haven, Connecticut (2016)

Playwrights Realm at The Duke on 42nd Street, NYC (2017) http://www.curtainup.com/moors17.html 

Mildred’s Umbrella Theater Company, Houston, TX (2018) https://www.houstoniamag.com/arts-and-culture/2018/08/mildreds-umbrella-the-moors-review 

Bridge Street Theatre, Catskill, New York (2019) https://theberkshireedge.com/audiobooks-history-short-stories-a-thriller-and-more 

The Hope Theatre, London (2022) https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2022/oct/16/the-moors-review-deliciously-dark-bronte-pastiche-hope-london 

A Red Orchid Theatre, Chicago, IL (2022) https://thirdcoastreview.com/2022/01/17/review-the-moors-at-a-red-orchid-is-a-wickedly-funny-and-subversive-tale-of-longing/ 

Chicago Sun-Times

The Windy City Times

Substance use: None 

Sex: Brief description of sexual assault: Two characters are complicit in a planned impregnation by an off-stage imprisoned and malnourished man (no descriptions of sex acts). 1 female-female kiss. 

Violence: One character murders another onstage by repeated blunt force trauma to the head. The head trauma can be masked. There is a blood spill. The Mastiff arrives covered with blood and feathers.

A fight choreographer and intimacy director should be considered  

Coarse language and other possibly controversial subject matter:

No coarse language. Descriptions of violent acts in song (“…her skull went crick-a-crack.” etc). Descriptions of off-stage acts: “deflowering virgins,” unlawful imprisonment, starvation

Directing note: 

The playwright notes that (in the text):

[ ] is unspoken…(and)

( ) is spoken out loud…a side-thought

In the text read by this writer, no [ ] were detected, and the use of ( ) was so plentiful that it was impossible to distinguish which were stage directions and which might be spoken lines. 

Rating: PG-13 for violence and adult themes

TPT Source: The Moors by Jen Silverman, ‏Samuel French, Inc., Publisher, 2017, ISBN-13: ‎978-0573705403, on loan from The University of Chicago Library, Chicago, IL

Purchase: Acting Edition $10.95 https://www.concordtheatricals.com/s/60712/the-moors 

Fees: 

Minimum Fee: $100 per performance

Mandatory Music/Media Fee: $25 per performance

https://www.concordtheatricals.com/p/60712/the-moors

Format inspired by the sadly suspended operations of the Arkansas Repertory Theatre then enhanced by TPT 

ALL HAIL HURRICANE GORDO BY CARLY MENSCH , AN ANALYSIS FOR PRODUCTION

Gordo: This other time, we stapled bologna to all the trees in the neighborhood. Oscar Mayer All American beef. Because we were so sick of having to eat the same crappy bologna and Kraft sandwiches everyday for lunch. See, our mom didn’t know how to cook. Or didn’t believe in it. It wasn’t like a feminist thing. It was like a nurturing thing. She was anti-nurturing in general.

Summary: Concord Theatricals: The routines of daily life get blown apart when two brothers take in a plucky young houseguest. While India is running away from her relatively normal family, Chaz is struggling to find normalcy in the one he already has. Is it possible to be your brother’s keeper and have a life too?

TPT Commentary: “There are, however, those who need more than we can or should be willing to provide.” Who wrote that? Oh yeah, it was me. Imagine 2 plays that were presented in the same Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville in 2008, and both with slightly different takes on our responsibility to those who are less prepared to face the cruel world than others. To what extent do we give up our dreams so that another might feel safe? Do we deserve our own life and dreams when family needs us? Do we “owe it to ourselves” to fulfill our destiny regardless of a cultural commitment?

The “Hurricane Gordo” of the title is a manchild in his early 20s with epic self-control issues. Is he intellectually disabled? Stunted by trauma? Mentally ill? The story leaves that open to interpretation. If he were depicted more precisely the audience might quickly make up their minds about whether he should be in a group home, psych ward, or frat house. This conundrum also gives us permission to laugh instead of being horrified or saddened when Gordo (Gordon) aggressively assaults his brother or voices fears that the luxury car on the street may be child protective services coming to take him away 5 years into his adulthood.

The three landmasses are in the path of Hurricane Gordo: 1) His brother, Chaz, with whom he was mutually abandoned by his parents. Chaz gave up his college tennis scholarship to return to the family home and keep Gordo out of trouble. Now, forced to sell most everything to get by, we eventually find that the stacks of phonebooks are part of a grossly ineffective letter-writing campaign to locate said lost parents, 2) India, a teen rebel who may or may not be trying to run away from home with a rabbit in a French horn case, and inspires Chaz to ruminate on freedom, and 3) Oscar, India’s annoyed and wealthy father who did run away from home at 17, but it sucked so he went back home.

Compared to Becky Shaw, it seems that moving to the suburbs makes New Yorkers curse substantially less. They still use some coarse language, but only a fraction of the latter. Some characters might be lackluster, but no one is offensive.  To paraphrase one reviewer, this quirky play will have some audience members asking themselves, “What am I watching and why are we here?” and others, laughing so hard they wet themselves. All gathered to watch this play will get more than they predicted at first glance. 

Recommendation:  Highly recommended, but in a very balanced season. Audiences seem to accept coarse language more readily when the plotlines have more gravitas. In my area it is difficult to find enough actors to cast a non-musical. Finding those actors who appear to be in their early 20’s may be easier in college towns. Hopefully your company has built a reputation for doing good work and a good marketing plan to combat the plays obscurity. This play will not sell based on its title or the playwright’s credits for writing the Showtime original series, Weeds.

Themes: family/belonging, protectiveness of adult siblings, wanderlust/destiny, How earnest are about getting what you want?

Cast: 1f, 3m: 

1 Female, 17 but passes for early 20s

2 Males, mid/early 20s

1 Male, late 50s

Culturally conscious casting opportunities: All characters are non-specific to ethnicity. The two males in their 20s are brothers. The young female and older male are father and daughter. All characters are specific to gender.

Running Time: Coates Theatre, San Antonio (2021) “The performance runs 95 minutes. There is no intermission.” There is however an act break opening on a scene “a few minutes later.”

Sets: 1 location: “A ranch-style house in a waning suburb of New York. The living room has been converted into a makeshift office.” The absence of a PC/laptop, substitution of electric typewriters, and lack of presence of cell phones may have less to do with the period and more to do with the fact that Chaz has sold off nearly everything to support himself and his brother. 

Costumes: Contemporary: Adult size San Diego Chargers football helmet. India has unnaturally colored hair. Oscar needs to portray casual wealth (stage directions: “cashmere blazer”)

Props: office furniture and a couch that have seem better days, 2 electric typewriters, odd toys/fidgets, lots of phonebooks, a French horn case that carries a live white rabbit that is said to be a Polish dwarf

Period notes: Contemporary, early 2000s? If Oscar were 17 when he ran away from home (to a commune) in 1967, he would be 56 in 2007. A setting later than this might make running away to a commune  less likely.

Playwright:

Biography:  https://www.concordtheatricals.com/a/4523/carly-mensch 

Reviews: 

Cleveland 2008:  here, here and here

Louisville, 2008:

Substance use: None 

Sex: None

Violence: In emotional fits, Gordo throws himself at walls, objects and his brother. A fight choreographer would be a safee hire.  

Coarse language and other possibly controversial subject matter: “Fuck. Shit. Motherfucker shit-pant ass-face” is spoken all at once by one actor in a single breath and “Fucking” is used twice as a modifier. Other topics: Parental abandonment, teen runaway, harboring a runaway, running with teen in this manner and crossing state lines as suggested but never committed would constitute a federal crime as well as ethical quagmire, tolerance of unsafe behavior

Rating: PG-13 for some coarse language and mild adult themes

TPT Source: Humana Festival 2008: The Complete Plays, Adrien-Alice Hansel & Amy Wegener, Editors, Playscripts, Inc., NY, NY, ISBN 0970904681, on loan from Harper College Library, Palatine, IL

Purchase: Acting Edition $9.95

Royalties: 

Minimum Fee: $100 per performance

Format inspired by the sadly suspended operations of the Arkansas Repertory Theatre then enhanced by TPT 

All Those Plays About Yankee City Folk Who Drop 51 F-Bombs in 2 Hours

For an “artsy” guy who’s day-job is direct practice mental health, I have an odd affinity for spreadsheets:

An unscientific chronological sampling of the 37 plays I have analyzed for this blog: 

2015, 2014 (4), 2012, 2010 (2), 2009 (3), 2008, 2007 (2), 2003 (3), 2002, 2001 (2), 2000 (2), 1999, 1998, 1997, 1993 (2), 1992, 1988, 1983, 1980, 1953, 1949, 1944, 1924

Mean: 1996

Mode: 2014

Median: 2003

20th century: 13

21st century: 24

For my last analysis for production, I  compiled a spreadsheet to measure the use of potentially offensive language in Becky Shaw by Gina Gionfriddo.  Basically, for the cause of science, I limited my data to those words listed in George Carlin’s 1972 monologue “Filthy Words.”  “Those are the ones that will curve your spine, grow hair on your hands and maybe, even bring us, God help us, peace without honor, and a bourbon (source).”

The script contained 82 instances of “coarse language:” 

51 (62%) varieties of “fuck.”

19 (26%) varieties of “shit.”

5 (6%) varieties of “dick.”

3 (4%) varieties of “ass.”

My analyses regularly include “other possibly controversial subject matter,” including sex, violence and substance use.  It continues to amaze me however what is acceptable in local theatres even when “fuck” is (usually) not. Homosexuality is OK, as long as it’s funny. Saying “Jesus Christ” or “God damn it” doesn’t raise an eyebrow. Shooting a gun is fine, as long as it appears in the playbill and there’s an announcement sandwiched between flashing lights and fog and the availability of drinks and dessert at intermission. Yet it can still be reasonably said that I read 20 year-old plays that continue to be a hard sell in my market.

Times may have changed since I first started this blog. Locally, we’ve produced Rent and I directed Next to Normal with its script intact in April 2019. Then, the pandemic hit, and hopes for a progressive season which included August: Osage County turned into a jukebox musical and a farce by the “Swim Club Play Factory.” Rabbit Hole (original 2007) with its language and adult themes made the cut for Fall 2021, but “safe” and “surefire” are better buzz words moving forward. Not only might audiences be reluctant to enter our theatres due to steady (rising?) COVID rates, actors and technicians are also only slowly filtering back. Between COVID-related cast changes and lacking technical help, I was forced to cancel the witty but innocently written comedy, Leaving Iowa (original 2004). It is understandable that the 2023 season at my main performance venue (a challenging lineup) draws from plays first produced (in chronological order) in 1939, 1963, 1982, and 1987. 

Another continuing hurdle for producing new works here is multiculturalism. The settings of many modern plays, primarily urban, make them intrinsically multi-ethnic. We here in Pleasantville are somewhat diverse in the census data, but POC may have been only as high as 2% of those cast in the past 5 years. Marginally represented playwrights and peoples should be promoted, we just don’t have them well-represented in our theatre community. A dear friend aspires to one-day play Ali in Come From Away. His ancestry is Russian Jewish and he is fair-skinned. Having him play such a role replete with dialect, even if performed with skill, dignity and respect, may be viewed as culturally insensitive. We have NO South Asian or North African males in our casting pool. 

Playwrights who want to get produced in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Houston, and Phoenix, write about those populations and set plays in those cities. They routinely deal with city people with city problems, who speak like city dwellers. I’m not saying we don’t fucking curse, but plays with urban settings often seem dishonest out here where livestock may outnumber the human population and more land is zoned agricultural than residential. 

I don’t have any brilliant answers yet. Maybe our theatre is destined to be a distant reflection of the urban landscape from the early to mid 20th century or watching passable farces and waiting for Oklahoma! to come back again. But, if you’re interested in moving your setting away from the NorthEast, you might try some of the titles below. Unfortunately, all but 3 of them were first produced before dawn of the 21st century:

AL: Big Fish

GA: The Foreigner

IL: These Shining Lives

IA: The Bridges of Madison County

KS: Picnic

LA: Steel Magnolias

ME: Almost, Maine

MI: Escanaba in da Moonlight

MN: Girl from the North Country

MS: Crimes of the Heart

OH: She Kills Monsters

WY: The Laramie Project

Good Luck. Now back to spreadsheets. 

Becky Shaw by Gina Gionfriddo, an analysis for production

Part of a series, “By Nancy”

Max: Unless you’re Gandhi or Jesus, you have a limited sphere of responsibility. You have a plot of land and the definition of a moral life is tending to that plot of land. 

TPT Commentary: Having spent my time as a psychotherapist, I have seen my patients improve their lives by acknowledging their feelings, and understanding and modifying their thoughts and behaviors. I challenge those who claim that their offensive, selfish behaviors are just them being “real” or pragmatic. I do, however, encourage them to balance the risk of interpersonal vulnerability with healthy boundaries. In the play, Suzanna says, “I know what goodness is. It’s kindness that asks nothing in return.” There are, however, those who need more than we can or should be willing to provide. That’s a very good rule for both the giver and receiver. Crudely put, there’s a happy medium between being an asshole and an idiot. 

Gina Gionfriddo’s Becky Shaw presents five imperfect people who drift about this asshole-idiot continuum.  All are poor mixtures of raw vulnerabilities, poor boundaries, and irregular self-awareness who meet the catalyst of the too-broken, too-needy titular character that agitates and activates this often harsh and acerbically funny two-hour solution. 

Recommendation:  Highly recommended, but probably not for our local season ticket patrons. Language, situations, and multiple settings, which must be changed quickly and effortlessly, may make this play best for companies with receptive adult audiences and ample budgets. If your theatre has a “off-season” offerings which might push the envelope, try it out. The craftsmanship required to bring this production to the stage requires more than three performances and spare ticket sales.

Summary: Dramatists Play Service (edited): A newlywed couple fixes up two romantically challenged friends. When an evening calculated to bring happiness takes a dark turn, crisis and comedy ensue in this wickedly funny play that asks what we owe the people we love and the strangers who land on our doorstep.

Themes: self-awareness, intimacy v. safety, compassion v. healthy boundaries, adult dating and relationships, grief, length of mourning, family/belonging, unhealthy family dynamics, protectiveness of adult parents, financial stability, legitimacy of psychotherapy, racism, interracial relationships

Cast: 3w, 2m: 

Centenary Stage Company,  Hackettstown, New Jersey, casting call (exp. 12/7/2015)

2 Females, 30-39

1 Female, 60+ (with multiple sclerosis, yet ambulatory) 

2 Males, 30-39

Culturally conscious casting opportunities: All characters are non-specific to ethnicity; however, a character recounts being in interracial relationships with black men and (offstage) is a victim of a crime perpetrated by a black man. 2 characters are mother and daughter. All characters are specific to gender. 

Running Time: Acts: 2, Scenes: 9

2 hours, 20 minutes with intermission, Round House Theatre, Bethesda, MD

Sets: 7 locations with swift changes: Act 1: NY hotel room (3-star) with an entry door; apartment in Providence, RI with a door to a bedroom and an office; Act 2: nondescript street scene (no set? Drop only?); Providence, RI apartment (reasonably priced); Boston hotel room (4-star); cafe (table/chairs?); RI Apt. again; living room of a nice middle class home (a character has stage directions to look out a window to see someone after they have left the house, and there seems to be a door to the street). These settings, if poorly executed, would detract from character and story clarity. Reviews have given hints to streamlining of settings using minimal props and rear projections or drops. 

Costumes: Contemporary to 2008: urban professional, urban/suburban casual, fancy cocktail dress, nice evening dress

Props: Nothing unusual: contemporary to minimally furnish above

Period notes: The Iraq war (2003-11) is discussed. Some phone calls appear to be from landlines. Smartphone apps (maps/reviews) are not used when it would be currently common: “…print out that Federal Hill map.” 

Playwright:

Biography:  IN THE BALANCE, 12/15/2021,

Awards and Nominations:

Theatre:

The Pulitzer Prize for Drama (finalist) – 2013. Rapture, Blister, Burn

Drama Desk Awards – 2009 – Outstanding Play, Becky Shaw

Outer Critics Circle Awards – 2009 – John Gassner Playwriting Award Gold Star, Becky Shaw

The Pulitzer Prize  for Drama (finalist) – 2009, Becky Shaw

Outer Critics Circle Awards – 2005 – John Gassner Playwriting Award, After Ashley

Television:

Online Film & Television Association, Best Writing in a Drama Series (TV)- 2013, House of Cards

Writers Guild of America, Best New Series-2014, House of Cards

Writers Guild of America, Drama Series (nominee)- 2014, House of Cards

Writers Guild of America, Drama Series (nominee)- 2012, Boardwalk Empire

Reviews: 

New York, 2009

London, 2011

Urbana, IL (home of University of Illinois), 2011

San Francisco, 2012:

Knoxville, TN, 2018: photos may give some inspiration for setting solutions

St. Paul, MN, 2020

Substance use: Wine is served to and used responsibly by adults. A character says, “going for a nightcap.” 

Sex: Discussions about pornography, man/woman kissing on bed with suggestion of suggestion of inevitable intercourse, “getting laid,” suggestion that offstage characters were formerly in a homosexual relationship, “underground sex-torture dungeon” used sarcastically, “NAMBLA” used sarcastically, revelation that two sets of characters had one night stands, talk about a mature mother’s sexual relationship with a younger man

Nudity: none

Violence: (offstage) Characters are robbed at gunpoint. A character says, “I get pictures in my mind of black men…being tortured” and, “I think about cutting myself with a knife.” A man grabs a woman’s arm roughly.  Offstage non-suicidal self-injury is discussed. 

Coarse language and other possibly controversial subject matter: 75% of the coarse language is from one character: frequent variations of “fuck” and “shit” which are seldom used for sexual intercourse or defecation, a remark based on a racial stereotype (Japanese objectivity over emotionality), suggestion that a character when a child was dressed like a “gay hustler,” (offstage) characters are robbed at gunpoint, character reflects on a being a victim of crime perpetrated by a black man and failed relationships with black men, racism, “pictures in my mind of black men…being tortured,” 

Rating: R for coarse language, mature topics, and sexual references 

TPT Source: Humana Festival 2008: The Complete Plays, Adrien-Alice Hansel & Amy Wegener, Eds., Playscripts, Inc., NY, NY, ISBN 0970904681, on loan from Harper College Library, Palatine, IL

Purchase: $13.00

Royalties: All inquiries concerning rights, including amateur rights, should be addressed to, Olivier Sultan, Creative Artists Agency, 162 5th Avenue, 6th Floor, New York, New York 10010 (as of 2009 printing). 

FEE: $105 per performance

Format inspired by the sadly suspended operations of the Arkansas Repertory Theatre then enhanced by TPT 

Freedomland by Amy Freed: an analysis for production

Part of a series: “…by Nancy.”

SIG: She says — it’s a punishment. I’m like this because I’m being punished. God doesn’t exist for people like me. I’m leaving the church. Those people are so angry and repressive.

NOAH. The Unitarians? 

p. 60, Acting Edition, Dramatists Play Service (1999)

TPT Commentary: Amy Freed’s Freedomland  skewers the folly of extremes in both intellectual liberalism and survivalist libertarianism. Searching for meaning, a family of generational privilege has abandoned the norms and mores of religion, morality, hierarchy, and sentimentality.  Inevitably, these idealistic and impractical characters are complicit in their own annihilation. Freed’s extreme dialogue which invokes shock and laughter in Act One, evolves in Act Two into some beautiful commentaries on the human condition. At first, we may be impressed by and laugh with the characters intelligence, insight and iconoclasm. Then, we might be repulsed by their vulgarity and depravity. Ultimately and unfortunately, we pity or are even angered by how futile and impotent they have become. 

Recommendation:  Will It Play Here? Improbable.

I am looking forward to reading more by this playwright (my second Freed analysis), but am not recommending this work for production by my readers. First, we again have the trope of a family of Northeastern intellectual elites. Second, the play warrants a visual realism in its very specific and realistic sets (2 of them) which are filled with highly unusual and problematically practical props (see below). Third, vulgarity is frequent and some sexual references will be beyond acceptable to local standards. Finally, my audiences, whose lives are by necessity far more pragmatic, would see the indulgences of Freed’s characters as offensive, repulsive, and improbable before they would see an allegory of privilege gone misdirected and unfettered. In short, the “Underfingers” are far too removed from my audience’s life experience. Princess musicals (a genre of but not my audience’s sole lexicon) have beasts and fairy godmothers, but these characters have clearly defined moral arcs and are, at outset, presented as parables. 

For a playwright who is female, I laud that this is a farce written from the perspective of a member of a generation and tells its story with no prerequisite to be particularly representative of a gender voice. It is plainly a voice. Perhaps that is my prejudice and privilege exposed. Women should write all sorts of plays, they need not all be about the female experience of repression. Most of the women in this play transcend or ignore that repression. Not all women have that opportunity. 

Summary: Three lost adult children converge on their eccentric family’s Upstate New York home dragging two others and the audience deep into an impromptu and dysfunctional family reunion 

Themes: Intellectual esotericism; privilege unfettered. If we abandon conventional  standards, how do we know what we value and if we have succeeded? Is the world actually going to hell in a handbasket? 

Cast: 4f, 3m

Culturally conscious casting opportunities (new to WIPH?): 4 characters compromise a biological family with American colonial heritage. A step-mother, a male writer, and a girlfriend have no restrictions or guidance on ethnicity. All characters are gender-specific. 

Running Time: 2 HOURS, 15 MIN https://variety.com/1997/legit/reviews/freedomland-1200451296/

Royalties (professional): $105 per performance. https://www.dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/single.asp?key=2862 

Sets: 2

1. “An eerie urban painting studio. There are forms of clowns, heads, faces, dummies, circus fragments.” p.5 This set is present for only three pages of dialogue.
2. “The great room of a colonial dwelling… vintage post-and-beam construction…large fireplace…multi-paneled windows…trap door to the roof…part of the sky is always visible” (p.8), artifacts from religions around the world, bookshelves filled with “thousands of books.” This set is present for 57 pages of dialogue; the remainder of the play. An outdoor theatre actually had the audience “hiking to different stages.” https://www.almanacnews.com/news/2008/07/23/theatre-in-the-woods-stages-freedomland- 

Costumes: All contemporary. Specialty items: Artist’s smock indicating regular use. Bondage mask, practical. Some characters wear towels briefly and slightly disrobe. No reviews have mentioned nudity. 

Props: COUNTLESS: “forms of clowns, heads, faces, dummies, circus fragments,” painted canvases (with realistic hobo clown paintings?), many pieces of religious iconography, a ceramic “Babylonian god” statuette that is smashed at every performance, bloody venison haunches and tools for practical butchering of same momentarily onstage, “thousands of books,” part of an improvised pipe bomb, a practical rack repurposed from antique stocks

Provenance:

Playwright: 

Representative: Charles McArthur Playwriting Award (D.C.), The New York Art’s Club Joseph Kesserling Award, LA Critic’s Circle Award (several), Pulitzer Prize Finalist. Several prestigious theatres have produced plays around the country (especially, in New York, DC, and California). 

More complete and impressive: https://profiles.stanford.edu/amy-freed.

Play:  1998 Finalist for The Pulitzer Prize for Drama

Purchase:

$11 Acting Edition https://www.dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/single.asp?key=2862 

From $6.99, used https://www.amazon.com/Freedomland-Acting-Amy-Freed/dp/0822217198

Availability at I-Share libraries in Illinois: 

ISU, Normal, IL (my copy, Thank you)

SIU, Carbondale

EIU, Charleston

UIUC, Champaign/Urbana

Reviews: 

New York, 1998

http://www.curtainup.com/freedom2.html

https://variety.com/1997/legit/reviews/freedomland-1200451296/

DC, 1998

https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1998/09/22/freedomland-shaking-the-nuts-from-the-family-tree/891109dd-a069-4043-a855-e7eb1e7c463f/

Drinking: Yes, especially a type of moonshine coined “whistel.”

Smoking: none.

Sex: Implied between a 27 year old man and a 50 plus year old married woman who pretends to be his mother (really), bondage mask worn, talk of bondage wear, talk of orgasms in the presence of multiple partners. A man is groped under a table as his voice modulates in pitch. Later, this same man is stretched on a “rack.” All of the former are instigated by the same character.

Language: “Fuck” in all its forms, and countless times, yet never about sex. “Shit” frequently as in feces, fool, and useless information

Nudity: None.  

Violence: Male posturing, pushing and shoving. A character bombs a “Quaker meeting hall,” offstage. No deaths or injuries are implied.

Other possibly controversial subject matter: A “Babylonian” god statuette is smashed. A crucifix is present and discussed for its value as a purchase. 

Rating: PG-13/R  for language and sexual and violent themes. There is no nudity nor are overt sexual acts performed onstage.

Format inspired by the sadly suspended operations of the Arkansas Repertory Theatre then enhanced by TPT 

Photo credit: compilation by author of

8a3ad3e738426d96b760f0953ea8f3d8.jpg (564×387) (pinimg.com)

&

https://www.ancient-origins.net/human-origins-religions/eden-there-was-hesperides-ancient-greek-religious-art-presents-different-021562

Men on boats: an Analysis for Production

Part of the series, “By Nancy…”

DUNN: Yeah, I was thinking you know? If I’m going to name something after myself, I want it to pop. 

POWELL: You know the unwritten rules. 

DUNN: Yeah, well they’re unwritten. We only follow them half the time. 

P. 14, acting edition

TPT Commentary: Conventional history might be retold as the exhausting adventures of naïve white men who discovered wonders of nature that were already there, while imagining they outwitted savages of ageless wisdom, and overcame adversity for which they should have been prepared, all to benefit richer white men who could not be bothered with the risk. Thanks to Jaclyn Backhaus’ Men on Boats, at least one adventure has been. In the tradition of Hamilton, actors who would not have been  welcome or even mentioned in the footnotes of the American story are woven into the fabric of the historical narrative with accessible language, humor and ironic hubris. 

Recommendation:  “Will It Play Here?,” YES. Production is recommended, but your theatre might have some trouble with the random expletives which are integral to the comic banter and swagger of the piece. Shorter plays with no intermission are all the rage. Your theatre and its audiences may be accustomed to the act break for selling refreshments, and refreshing themselves. Despite the author’s expressed intention to encourage the piece to be performed by female, transgender and gender-nonconforming actors, there is no social or political messaging beyond “when desperate men gather, they make unusual choices.” Gender swapping only heightens the farce. The playwright is female, American, and a person of color (Punjabi and German descent): https://womenandhollywood.com/playwright-jaclyn-backhaus-chats-about-her-new-show-india-pale-ale/). The show is set outside of the Northeastern United States and features characters whose economic privilege is not primary to the story. 

Summary: A band of actors creatively and comically retell the process and perils of the ten men and four wooden rowboats of the 1869  Powell Expedition and “discovery” of the Grand Canyon  (https://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/exploration-survival/john-wesley-powells-perilous-journey-down-colorado/ )

Themes: What does it mean to be brave? resourceful? foolish? In the end, was it all worth it?

Culturally conscious casting opportunities (new to WIPH?): This show calls upon theatres and their audiences to defy convention. Playwright Jaclyn Backhaus’s casting notes,state that it’s a piece for “racially diverse actors who are female-identifying, trans-identifying, gender fluid, and/or non-gender conforming.”

Cast: 10 ACTORS (you decide)

Get a feel for the show: Video from Playwrights Horizons, NYC ,2016 https://youtu.be/0EtmMqef8v4 

Running Time:

Approximately 105 minutes with no intermission. https://www.centerstage.org/plays-and-events/production-history/season-2019-20/men-on-boats  

1 hour, 35 minutes https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2019-07-16/men-on-boats-review-son-semele 

There are scene breaks which may facilitate a traditional act break. 

Royalties (professional):$130 per performance. https://www.dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/single.asp?key=5529 

Sets: Unit set with suggested spaces. It seems best not to depict literal rivers and topography but instead have a multilevel space that can be traversed, climbed, surmounted, and overcome through the imagination of the artists and audience. Easily disposed/hidden physical suggestions of the boats may be helpful, but one is lost before the end of Act One and scenes shift very quickly. It may be best for actors to simply have oars or even slats that suggest many props (some productions have mimed the oars). There are stage directions to solve (ignore? reimagine?): “the boat itself onshore, upside down, drying out,” “Bradley is …soaking wet, “a newly stripped and caulked Emma Dean,” the rattlesnake (a maraca?) raises its head.”

Costumes: Period specific or at least highly suggestive pieces. All characters depicted  are male, but because this piece intentionally defies convention, you may need to costume atypical bodies of various proportions as if they were adventuring males (and some Ute tribesman) of the period. 

Props: a shotgun, a journal, “a bouquet of grasses,” rattlesnakes, biscuits/cookies, a coffee pot. Basic items to be used by artists with improvisation and imagination: plates, sacks, crates, pots/pans, kegs/casks, boxes, packs, oars, ropes (Get the idea yet?)  

Provenance:

Playwright:  

From: https://www.playwrightshorizons.org/shows/plays/men-boats/playwright/ 

Jaclyn Backhaus is a playwright, cofounder of Fresh Ground Pepper, and new member of The Kilroys. Her plays include Men On Boats (New York Times Critics’ Pick, Clubbed Thumb, Playwrights Horizons, published by Dramatists Play Service), India Pale Ale (Manhattan Theatre Club, recipient of the 2018 Horton Foote Prize for Promising New American Play), You Across From Me (co-written with three other writers for the Humana Festival), Folk Wandering (book writer and co-lyricist with 11 composers, Pipeline Theatre Company), and You On the Moors Now (Theater Reconstruction Ensemble), among others. She was the 2016 Tow Foundation Playwright-in-Residence at Clubbed Thumb and she is currently in residence at Lincoln Center. Backhaus holds a BFA in Drama from NYU Tisch, where she now teaches. She hails from Phoenix, Arizona, and currently resides in Ridgewood, Queens with her husband, director Andrew Scoville and their son Ernie.

Play:  2017 Lucille Lortel Award (Nominated), Outstanding Director; 2017 Drama Desk Award (Nominated), Outstanding Sound Design in a Play; Outer Critics Circle Awards – 2017 – John Gassner Award (playwright); 

Purchase: Acting edition or ePlay: $11 https://www.dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/single.asp?index=0&key=5530 

Availability at I-Share libraries in Illinois: 

Milner Library, Illinois State University, Normal, IL

Roosevelt University Library, Chicago, IL

John T. Richardson Library, DePaul University, Chicago, IL

Reviews: 

New York, 2005 https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/24/theater/review-men-on-boats-blurs-genders-in-recalling-john-wesley-powells-expedition.html?.?mc=aud_dev&ad-keywords=auddevgate&gclid=Cj0KCQjw-NaJBhDsARIsAAja6dMetBivgr8bJ1t1xIqu5kkwuNXTlRiqurRIAM1llA00-maSLNB9PDIaAkoDEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

New York, 2016:

https://variety.com/2016/legit/reviews/men-on-boats-review-1201827566/

Boston, 2017:

Los Angeles, 2019: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2019-07-16/men-on-boats-review-son-semele

Baltimore 2019

https://dcmetrotheaterarts.com/2019/12/10/men-on-boats-rewrites-the-rules-at-baltimore-center-stage/

Fort Collins, CO, 2020 :

https://www.onstagecolorado.com/men-on-boats/

Sensibilities:

Drinking: “Men” are exploring the American Wilderness in 1869, so…

Smoking: “Men” are exploring the American Wilderness in 1869, so…

Sex: None

Language: Several instances of “shit:” in frustration, and as a replacement for “stuff.” Several uses of “fuck/fucking:” mostly casual use, all without implication of a sexual act

Nudity: None. A “man” takes off his pants, yet appropriately costumed, “he” would be wearing long johns.  

Violence: River rapid tragedies suggested by pantomime

Other possibly controversial subject matter: simulated gunshots

Rating: PG-13 (language)

Format inspired by the sadly suspended operations of the Arkansas Repertory Theatre then enhanced by TPT 

Photo credit: Bob Tucker/Focalpoint Studio: Production, Cape Rep Theatre, Brewster MA, 2017

Analysis for production: 100 Saints You Should know

100 Saints You Should Know by Kate Fodor

Part of a series: “By Nancy…”

TPT Commentary: As a psychotherapist, this writer knows the primary stimulus resulting in his currently robust patient census. The global pandemic has reminded us that we are by nature a gregarious species. When deprived of an essential, a species may persist, but it will not thrive. To compensate for this deficit we seek connection both sensual and spiritual. Both are elusive and confusing. 100 Saint You Should Know by Kate Fodor is a beautiful, flawed, and incomplete work that reflects the beautiful, flawed, and incomplete characters who inhabit it. The title is a misdirect as there are no saints portrayed, only sinners in need of a savior who may be coming or may be “just a nice story that makes some people happy to hear.”

Speaking as a producer, 100 Saints… is rather inexpensive to produce but needs strong talented actors from teens to 60s. Urban companies will easily present the content without incident. Even the Roman Catholic Church and sacramental celibacy are handled fairly and without cliche. Remote/rural community theatres may have difficulty casting the younger roles who wrestle with provocative, adult content (no exploitation). These companies may also find it difficult to find an audience unless they are known for lab/niche productions.  

Recommendation:  As this blog is titled “Will It Play Here?,” the answer is “No.” Production is recommended, but only in professional theatres in suburban/urban areas. See reviews for a suggested, but not endorsed edit. 

Summary: 

from https://www.dramatists.com: Theresa is estranged from her family and working as a cleaning woman when she finds herself surprised by the unexpected desire to learn how to pray. Matthew, the priest whose rectory she cleans, is stunned and heartbroken by the realization that he no longer knows how to talk to God. When he disappears one day, Theresa feels compelled to track him down, and her search changes both of their lives (the last phrase is hyperbole, TPT). 

from https://www.playwrightshorizons.org/shows/plays/100-saints-you-should-know/ 

Theresa cleans the rectory of the local parish to support her unruly teenage daughter. When its priest is forced to leave the church under uncertain circumstances and return home to his protective mother, Theresa finds herself compelled to pursue him.  One eventful night joins them all, forcing a reckoning with the broken memories and shaken faith that divides them – and the discovery of a shared, yet tenuous, common ground.

Themes: loneliness, connection, spirituality, physical intimacy (complex and not necessarily sexual), existential morality, appreciation for the physical reality of self 

Cast: 3W (30s, 60s, 16), 2M (30s, 16)

Culturally conscious casting note: The priest and his mother are scripted as a first generation Irish American and Irish native, respectively. All other roles may be cast without specific cultural requirements.

Running Time: 2h, 15m (nytimes.com), 2 acts

Royalties (professional):$100 per performance. https://www.dramatists.com/cgi-bin/db/single.asp?key=3923 

Sets: Several locations to be quickly shifted and suggested: traditional home bathroom, teenager’s bedroom, living room of an apartment, street out front of latter, hospital waiting room. It is scripted that there are projections of photographs by George Platt Lynes.

Costumes:Modern (2007 specific)

Props: Nothing unusual

Period Note: This play needs to remain set in 2007 as the action of the play is dependent on the absence of ubiquitous presence of cell phones

Playwright:

Kate Fodor’s plays have been produced by Playwrights Horizons, Primary Stages, Epic Theatre Ensemble, San Jose Repertory Theatre, London’s Courtyard Theatre, and Chicago’s TimeLine Theatre Company, among others. Kennedy Center’s Roger L. Stevens Award, a Joseph Jefferson Citation, and an After Dark Award. Kate is a resident playwright at New Dramatists and a fellow at The Playwrights Center. https://www.dramatists.com/dps/bios.aspx?authorbio=Kate+Fodor. Kate Fodor is a writer and producer, known for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (2017), March and Living with Yourself (2019). https://www.imdb.com/name/nm7052164/bio .She was recently named one of “Eight to Watch” in the theater world by The New York Times. https://www.steppenwolf.org/artists/kate–fodor/ 

Play:  

National Theatre Conference’s Stavis Award 

One of the 10 Best Plays of the Year (2007) “Entertainment Weekly” and “Time Out New York.” 

Purchase: $10

Reviews: 

New York, original run (2007): 

Variety https://variety.com/2007/legit/reviews/100-saints-you-should-know-1200556238/

TheaterMania https://www.theatermania.com/new-york-city-theater/reviews/100-saints-you-should-know_11601.html

NYTimes https://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/19/theater/reviews/19saints.html

CurtainUp http://www.curtainup.com/100saintsyoushouldknow.html 

Vancouver, BC (2012):

• https://www.convergemedia.org/100-saints-theatre-review/ 
• http://www.reviewvancouver.org/th_100saints2012.htm 

Los Angeles (2017):

• https://www.huffpost.com/entry/100-saints-you-should-kno_b_871601
• https://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2011/06/theater-review-100-saints-you-should-know-at-elephant-space.html
• https://www.stageandcinema.com/2011/06/10/100-saints/ 

Drinking: Teens drink alcohol irresponsibly and to excess with dire consequences

Smoking: One fleeting occurrence 

Sex: None: Some discussion of pregnancy, teen sexuality, adult phsyical intimacy, and homosexuality 

Language: Several instances of “shit:” as feces, in frustration, and as a replacement for “stuff.” Several uses of “fuck/fucking:” mostly casual use, all without implication of a sexual act, once used by a teen to offend her mother, and all almost exclusively used by a 16 year-old female. “Fag” and “gay” are used by a 16 year-old unsophisticated male to indicate homosexual men.

Nudity: Projections of art photos featuring male nudity (George Platt Lynes)

Violence: A 16 year-old male appears badly injured after a fall which had occurred offstage

Other possibly controversial subject matter: mentioned or as themes, yet not depicted: homosexuality, sacramental celibacy, extra-marital sexual relations, teen sexuality, sexual abuse of a minor by clergy. Refreshingly, a Catholic priest is NOT depicted as an abuser, deviant, fool, or hypocrite.

Rating: PG-13

Format inspired by the sadly suspended operations of the Arkansas Repertory Theatre (then enhanced by TPT)   

A privileged white “intellectual” walks into a bar…

In April 2018, I wrote Color-Blind? as my first attempt at discussing the “race issue” in relation to the theatre in my resident demographic. In the current climate (June 26, 2020), I enter into the subject area not sure where I am headed. So, please forgive me as I ramble. By vocation, I want to advocate. As an artist,  I desire to reach new audiences with integrity while acknowledging that our theatres are a victim of, a servant to, and an artistic advisor for its patrons.

In the following paragraph I simply state statistics. I’m not applying for sainthood or praying a mea culpa:

I have added ONE actor of color in a color-blind casting (a sailor in Mister Roberts). He was a collaborator on another project who has since moved on (and a leading man type dammit). I strongly encouraged POC to audition for my production of Next to Normal in our media push. I personally invited 2 of the 3 people of African descent who were regular performers at our theatre to audition. At auditions, I had 2 non-white actors participate. Neither had the vocal skill for the roles that met their age-respective/ appropriate character (Diana/Henry).  One actor did both join my ensemble and build my light cues (all while suffering an unexpected life-threatening condition, no less).

In the short list of POC in our area, there are many Latinx families that have been here for 100 years and many of whom are first generation Mexican mestizo. A smattering of the latter regularly perform at our theatres, but in much lower numbers than the demographic percentage. The 3 black actors who are regular participants are:

1. a 19 year old ethnic Nigerian woman raised in US,
2. a biracial man in his early 20s,  and
3. a mid-forties black woman in a biracial marriage who moved here from Louisiana via DC.

I am unaware if  these actors are active members of the local Black community, however, my area is far more diverse than my audition pool. It is my estimation that there is far more talent than that to which I have been introduced. My question:

How do I encourage more POC to join us… OR start something of their own so that we might support them with our patronage, and maybe even someday and join THEM? 

Nobody needs my help. If POC in my community aren’t interested in theatre (or the work which our area theatres have produced), that is our fault for not appearing or being welcoming, or perhaps not being attractive or interesting. Unfortunately, I can’t dream of getting Lynn Nottage’s Ruined or Sweat produced in our theatres unless I can guarantee 1) a cast and 2) an audience.

Black Playwrights You Should Know:  I’ll be honest, I read about 6-10 plays per year (most are from playwrights who identify as female) and I haven’t heard of any of the listed playwrights or titles (maybe Moonlight?).

Ten Major African American Playwrights: I’ve done a great deal of reading and research on Langston Hughes, know who Lorainne Hansberry, George Wolfe, and Ntozake Shange are and what they wrote, and have seen August Wilson’s Fences and Two Trains Running in their NYC premieres. Vinette Carroll was a visiting professor at my university (the latter 3 name-drops say more about my privilege than my scholarship). Zora Neale Hurston was one of the few famous residents of my home town. I have purposefully left these names without links to force you to do the research.  Again, I write this not to garner respect or credibility but so that you might appreciate my ignorance.

I doubt I’ll get more than some “likes” from my white friends on this post so, here’s a helpful but pessimistic take on what we pale-faced empaths might do:

Things white people can do to advocate for racial equality (without pretending they’re black)

Some more ideas: “What can I do?”

And here’s a great reading list of books (not plays):

An Antiracist Reading List

“Pleasantville County” Demographics

2010 Census Statistics for the “Pleasantville County” of the production*:  Population: 100,000; 45,000 households/30,000 families; Racial makeup: 93.2% White, Latino, 8.0%, 1.9% Black or African American, 0.7% Asian, 0.3% American Indian, 2.5% from other races, and 1.4% from two or more races; Median age: 41.0; Median household income: $52,000 ; Population below the poverty line: 10.8%; Largest industries: Manufacturing (7,000), Health Care & Social Assistance (7000), Retail Trade (7000); Highest paying industries: Utilities ($95,000), Mining, Quarrying, & Oil & Gas Extraction ($63,000), Public Administration ($57,000); Political lean: Republican; High school or higher: 89%; Bachelor’s degree or higher: 18%; Religious: 61%; Catholic: 41%; Christian, other:. 22%; Jewish: 0.11%; Islam: 0.00%

*numbers are rounded to leave the county anonymous

First Lady Suite by Michael John LaChiusa: an analysis for production

Primary analysis: guest, Steven Zumbrun

Editor and additional material: The Pleasantville Thespian

“We are not any one of us happy to be where we are but there’s nothing to be done about it except to do our best — and forget about the sacrifices and many unpleasant things that bob up.”

Bess Truman, First Lady 1953-1961

In my continuing search for challenging theatre that meets local production budgets, patronage demographics, local ideologies, desire for challenging material, and existing talent pool, I discovered First Lady Suite. At first glance, it seemed an ideal choice. The musical has an (all-ish) female cast, an orchestra of one or two pianos, and a flexible, surrealistic set. I had anticipated buying the album, reading the script, and then inviting a music director to comment on the details in which I am not as informed or fully educated. In my search for a co-writer/ collaborator, I discovered my friend Steven Zumbrun* was far more qualified to be the primary author. What follows are primarily his words, and my occasional editorial. The work has been edited to mirror what has become the typical format of analyses on TPT. I look forward to future collaborative work with both Steve and other artists and encourage submissions.

Note: TPT’s familiarity and opinions on this work are based entirely on reviews, summaries and Steve’s commentary and experience with the work as written for the 1993 book and score, since revised. I hope to return to this analysis at a future date having, at minimum, obtained and analyzed the current libretto if not the music (I am NOT a musician).

Guest Commentary (Steven Zumbrun): 

First Lady Suite, a musical by Michael John -LaChiusa (music, book, lyrics), with its haunting moments, is alternately intriguing and challenging, yet also very, very weird and uneven. As a whole, it is a bit like Sondheim, yet without the playfulness.  It tends to bewilder and sometimes anger audiences because it depicts the first ladies as flawed individuals, yet it isn’t always clear how we are supposed to feel about them, or what the point is. I music directed a production of First Lady Suite in Baltimore in the 1990s (previous to the 2004 revision). Years later, I am still sorting out how I feel about it. 

In the first skit, JFK’s plane is about to land at Love Field before the fateful motorcade. Musically, it is a lot of impressionism and recitative.The second skit depicts a drunken and lonely Mamie Eisenhower, left alone on her birthday. Mamie is given Ethel Merman-type brass while opera singer Marian Anderson gets a couple of gorgeous arias. It’s probably the one audiences like best. It’s essentially an “I Love Lucy” episode with time travel, adultery, and alcoholism.The third is a dumb throwaway where Margaret Truman gives a vocal recital while her mother does distracting things upstage.The last skit is the most daring and successful.  Amelia Earhart is flying Eleanor Roosevelt and her secretary/friend/lover Lorena Hickok over Washington. This is structured as a sort of Brechtian cabaret act by the bitter, sardonic Hickok.  At one point Hickok climbs out onto the plane’s wing and tap dances.In another, Eleanor and Hickok are depicted as lovers who sing a real love duet.

Note: Dramatist Play Service sells both a two-piano and a one-piano arrangement. The piece is referred to as a “chamber musical.”  Whereas the term “chamber musical” is in broad use, it has no Merriam-Webster, or even industry-standard definition:

Christopher Smith,: “Chamber musical” is a term borrowed from “chamber music”, where the forces required are less than a full symphony orchestra. It generally refers to a piece of musical theatre that is smaller in scale, suitable for a smaller theatre rather than requiring a large Broadway-size theatre. There is no set limit for the term to be used; it’s just a convenient way to refer to a less-elaborate production. 

Recommendation: Mixed: Steve: The music is eclectic and difficult to learn. There were nights our cast of six and out numbered the audience. One time, we sold out the house to a patriotic group that thought we were doing a musical tribute to the first ladies. They wanted their money back. TPT: First Lady Suite may be a challenge for my red-county-in-a blue-state patronage. As for  casting: I only have one actress in my current cadre who might be able to pull off Marian Anderson. Our black actors in the tri-county area are barely engaged in theatre outside of a region which is a 45-minute commute from where I sit.

Summary: see above 

Themes: femininity, fulfillment, love equality, living in the shadow of a man, gender roles 

Cast: Flexible: The New York production used an ensemble of 1 man and 6 women playing 13 women and 1 man. Casting requires at least one black actress to play Marian Anderson. The original New York production cast an African-American woman as a nurse/Lorena Hickok. Later productions have added a Michelle Obama character.

Running Time: 90 minutes with no intermission; however, there are an even number of vignettes, so…1 hour and 40 minutes (1 hour first part, 40 minutes second), plus one intermission

 

Royalties (professional):Apply here

 

Sets: one flexible set capable of depicting several locations, including the wing of an airplane 

Costumes: 13 period costumes depicting historical characters  

Suite One: 1963

Suite Two: 1953-1960 /1945 (period uniforms)

Suite Three:1945-1953

Suite Four:1933-1945; one is Amelia Earhart in pilot uniform 

Props: Sparse, but important to indicate, mood, location and period

Provenance:   

Playwright:  

Awards: 

Nominated for over 20 combined Tony, Outer Critics Circle, Lucille Lortel, and Drama Desk Awards 

1994 Obie Award Special Citations (2) for the books of Hello, Again and First Lady Suite

Play:  

1994 Obie Award, Performance, Alice Playten, actor 

 

1994 Obie Award, Special Citation, Michael John LaChiusa, book

Purchase/Rental: 

Script $12.00

Complete Set of Scores: 2 Two-Piano Arrangement, 8 One-Piano Arrangement.

Deposit: $350

Rental Fee: $35

First Lady Suite – A Musical (Premiere Recording): 

 

Download: $8.99, 

Audio CD: $7.80 + $3.99 shipping

Reviews:

New York, NY Times, 1993: “Mr. LaChiusa’s ambitions for his musical are more bracing than the musical itself.”

New York, Backstage, 2002 “… more contemplative than theatrical. Most exquisite, however, is LaChiusa’s music, which floats us through the fairly static stories with a sinister grace that is often transcendent.”

NY, Variety, 2002 “melodious but substance-deprived sojourn…convoluted, unfulfilling libretto.”

New York, 2004, The Transport Group, (Michelle Obama, “a nameless, African American First Lady” had been added to the book) “it has taken an all too long eleven years for audiences to once again have a chance to experience it. But why waste time on should’aves when (this) terrific production has so much to cheer about…,remarkably effective simplicity that puts the focus …on the music and the superb cast.”

NY, 2004:  “By the time it occurs to you that Michael John LaChiusa isn’t saying very much about the famous characters who populate his mid-20th-century-grounded First Lady Suite, you’ve been so consistently entertained that lack of substance seems a ho-hum consideration.”

Chicago, 2005: “Presidents’ wives are whining, inconsequential ninnies with few thoughts of their own.”

London, 2009 “First Lady Suite needs to be cut by half an hour so, if you’re tempted, I recommend you go for the performances and not solely for the piece itself.”

London, 2009  “The score becomes discordant and is jarring at times. The writing however intrigues and some astute insights have been crafted into the dialogue.”

Houston, TX, 2012 “audiences can celebrate the struggles of womanhood-especially womanhood under public scrutiny”

LaDue, MO, 2014 “3.5 on a scale of 1-to-5.” “a book that is curious at best and offensive on the outside.”

Chicago, 2016: “features some strong vocal and comedic performances…It lacks compelling enough substance to have one care or empathize with the female protagonists”

Drinking: “The second skit depicts a drunken and lonely Mamie Eisenhower.”

Smoking: This script has not yet been read by TPT (5/4/2020)

Sex: dialogue discussing infidelity and homosexuality 

Language: This script has not yet been read by TPT (5/4/2020)

Violence: This script has not yet been read by TPT (5/4/2020)

Other possibly controversial subject matter:  At one point Lorena Hickok proclaims,”Do you know where Eleanor sleeps?  Eleanor sleeps here” as she gestures to herself. 

Rating: PG-13

Format inspired by the sadly suspended operations of the Arkansas Repertory Theatre (then enhanced by TPT)   

*Steven Zumbrun hails from Maryland but has made music in nearly every state in the country (and bits of Canada) with such productions as Sweeney Todd, Ruthless!, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Songs for a New World, Barnum, Gypsy, Bat Boy, Merrily We Roll Along, and Forever Plaid. He also writes, tap dances, and plays the accordion (sort of).

Cover image (edited)