The Book Of Mormon - By Trey Parker, Matt Stone, and Robert Lopez

The Book Of Mormon was written by Trey Parker and Matt Stone. It premiered on Broadway on March 24, 2011 at the Eugene O'Neil Theatre. It went on to win 9 Tony Awards including Best Musical, Best Book, and Best Original Score. The musical also won 4 Drama Desk Awards and its accompanying soundtrack won a Grammy Award.

Trey Parker graduated from the University of Colorado where he studied music. During his time there he met his soon to be partner in crime, Matt Stone. While in undergrad they produced an independent black comedy musical film originally titled Alfred Packer: The Musical (which was later released as Cannibal! The Musical) in 1993. The film has since been adapted for the stage several times, originally by . Later they created a short film titled The Spirit of Christmas (1995) that became the basis for the TV show that would be South Park (Parker and Stone also do many of the voices on the show). South Park began airing in 1997 and has earned 4 Emmy Awards and a Peabody award. South Park has been included on several "best TV show of all time" lists, including Time Magazine, Rolling Stone and Entertainment Weekly. The show's popularity resulted in a movie called South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut (1999). The movie went on to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song for "Blame Canada." The duo also collaborated on the films Orgazmo (1997), BASEketball (1998), and Team America: World Police (2004).

During the production stages of Team America, Parker and Stone went and saw Avenue Q, where they met Robert Lopez. Lopez, along with Jeff Marx, wrote the music for Avenue Q, which went on to win several Tony Awards, including Best Musical. Lopez also wrote a musical version of Disney/Pixar's Finding Nemo which opened at Disney's Animal Kingdom, as well as wrote the music for the musical episode of the TV show Scrubs. During their clandestine meeting the three discovered that they were all fascinated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and its founder, Joseph Smith. Lopez was the one who pushed for the concept of a stage musical, and after roughly 7 years of development (mostly due to the profane nature of the show), The Book of Mormon opened to rave reviews.

The Book of Mormon chronicles the journey of two Mormon missionaries to Uganda and their struggles with spreading their religion when the locals are more concerned with the struggles of poverty, war, and famine. After Elder Price, the golden boy of the Mormons, has trouble with converting the Ugandans, Elder Cunningham, the slightly nebbishy companion, begins converting the Africans, if with a few imaginative alterations. The musical skewers religion and race while being an honest and heartfelt tale. Themes of belief and doubt are prevalent through the show. The central focus of the show is on the importance of religion on our lives and the necessity of belief. The original production featured Andrew Rannels and Josh Gad in the roles of Elder Price and Elder Cunningham, respectively.

Some Discussion questions about The Book of Mormon:

1) What do you think the authors are trying to about the foundations of religions with Elder Cunningham essentially starting his own religion?

2) Mormons have taken offense to the portrayal of their religion through this play, as have Ugandans about the state of their nation. Do you find their outrage warranted?

3) Did you find the character of General Butt-Fucking-Naked to be a bit far fetched? Does it then surprise you to know that he is actually based on a real person?

4) Why do you think Elder Price's desired destination is Orlando, Florida? What do you think the author's intended to say about Price's character through this need?

5) Do you think the authors wrote the show as a parody of stage musicals or have the authors written an authentic Broadway musical?

6) Throughout the show we never see any female Mormon missionaries. Do you think the authors meant anything by not including female missionaries in the show?

7) In many ways, The Book Of Mormon is a modern telling of the monomyth, or heros journey. Other modern examples include Star Wars and Lord of the Rings, stories Elder Cunningham is very familiar with. Do you think this musical fits with the idea of the hero's journey, and if so who is the hero: Price or Cunningham?

8) The creators have described the show as "an atheist's love letter to religion." Do you find this to be an accurate description of the tone of the show?

9) Mormons have been a big influence on Parker and Stone and they have touched upon Mormonism in a number of their projects from Cannibal! to episodes of South Park to Orgazmo. Why do you think they have such an interest in this specific religion and not other ones? What about the LDS faith is so interesting?

10) Trey Parker has expressed a love of musicals and a desire to put music into just about everything he works on. Do you think this play holds up in the tradition of musical theatre that we have studied in class so far?

11) Speaking of musical theatre tradition, does the moment where the Africans perform for the white people remind you of any other moment from a famous musical?

12) The show a good deal of profanity and dark subject matter. Did you find the show as offensive or "In-Yer-Face" as the plays of Mark Ravenhill or Sarah Kane? If not, why?

A Number

Caryl Churchill, a dramatist from London, is well known for her writing on themes such as gender, sexuality, power, and politics. Churchill received a BA in English from Lady Margaret Hall (College of Oxford) in 1960. During her time at college she also began writing plays for small drama groups including Downstairs (1958), You’ve No Need to be Frightened (1960), and Having a Wonderful Time (1960). She married and had three sons and while staying at home to raise her children she wrote plays for BBC radio and television such as The Ants (1962), Not, Not, Not, Not Enough Oxygen (1971), Schreber's Nervous Illness (1972), The After Dinner Joke (1978) and Crimes (1982). Her 1972 play Owners, which was called her “first major theatrical endeavor”, dealt with socialist themes and critiqued the capitalist mindset. Churchill has worked with several theatres developing plays including the Royal Court Theatre, the Joint Stock Theatre Company and the Monstrous Regiment. Her first play of great success was Cloud Nine in 1979 which she described as a "a farce about sexual politics". Cloud Nine shows gender and interpersonal relationships in a comical and informative light using a Victorian setting and cross-gender casting. Cloud Nine won the 1982 Obie Award for best play of the year. Churchill’s 1982 play Top Girls which also featured feminist themes with its all-female cast later won her another Obie Award for best play. However, in Serious Money (1987) and Ice-cream (1989) she once again criticized the capitalist western society of England and America. In the late 90’s her style became edgier with plays, such as The Skriker (1994) and This Is a Chair (1997), that have been described as surrealist and dream-like. In 2002 she wrote A Number which enjoy wide popularity and her screenplay of the play was aired on BBC TV in 2008. In 2010, Churchill wrote A Ring a Lamp a Thing for Theatre at the Royal Opera House which was preformed the Linbury Studio. Churchill’s newest play, Love and Information, debuted at the Royal Court Theatre in 2012 and was directed by James Macdonald. Love and Information, has 100 characters played by 15 actors in 50 short scenes. The play again questions humanity as well as love and intimacy. Churchill is still living and writing today at the ripe age of 74. It is my opinion and that of many scholars that Caryl Churchill is a living legend and one of the most significant contributors to theatre, feminism, and philosophy of our time.

The recent play A Number is a response to the ethical questions brought up modern technology. The play consists of a father a son and two clones of the son. The sons’ biological mother committed suicide and left the father to raise his son alone. After failing as a parent, he clones his son as to have a second attempt at fatherhood. When the father realizes his son genetic material was used to create many more children his is enraged. His son Bernard (B2) is not sure how to react and we see him try to sort out his feelings as he learns the truth that he is also a clone. Churchill raises many questions in this play. Who does the genetic material belong to? Does it belong to the parent to do what they will with it? Does it belong to the original individual? Does it belong to the cloning company? Who can sue for mishandled genetic information? The play also question what is humanity. Are clones humans? Do clones have the same rights as originals? Are clones property? The concept of parenthood is also questioned. Does biology make someone a parent or does raising someone make you a parent? Do parents have an ownership of their children? Is there a link with one’s biological parents? Churchill also presents the question of nurture verses nature. Does having identical DNA make people similar? How much does our DNA play into our personalities? Are our personalities products of our environment? Churchill seems to answer this question by showing the character Michael Black who is another Bernard clone but has grown up separate and has a different personality and a happy life. Through Michael Black, Churchill asks the most important question of all: How would the clone feel? Bernard (B2) is troubled by his realization that he is a clone, but Michael Black is not bothered by the information. With this play Churchill wants to show us all of the very complicated questions that come with new technology. Though not all the questions are answered in the play Churchill demonstrates the importance of reflecting on them as a society and of finding our answer before we use this technology on humans. In the end, Caryl Churchill shows that clone or not humans are humans and we need to proceed along the path of technology with respect for humanity. It is clear that philosophers, scholars, and theatre lovers will look to A Number as a great reflection of the ethical dilemmas we face today and will continue to face in the future. 

Miss Witherspoon - Christopher Durang

Christopher Durang is an American playwright and actor. He was born on January 2, 1949 in Montclair, New Jersey to Patricia Elizabeth and Francis Ferdinand Durang, Jr.  He attended Catholic schools as a child. He later attended Harvard where he received his B.A. in English and later went to the Yale School of Drama for his M.F.A. in playwriting.

While attending Yale, Christopher Durang had many plays presented at the school, especially in the Yale Cabaret. He co-authored and performed with fellow student Albert Innaruto in two cabaret pieces, I Don’t Generally Like Poetry But Have You Read “Trees”? and The Life Story of Mitzi Gaynor.

He is known for outrageous and absurd comedies that often deal with the Roman Catholic dogma, child abuse, and homosexuality.

His most recent works include Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them,  Miss Witherspoon at Playwrights Horizons, Mrs. Bob Cratchit's Wild Christmas Binge, which premiered at City Theatre in Pittsburgh in 2002, and the musical Adrift in Macao (music by Peter Melnick and book and lyrics by Durang), which opened at the Philadelphia Theatre Company October 2005.

Other credits include the following: A History of the American Film, which received a Tony nomination for best book of a musical in 1978, The Actor's Nightmare, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You which ran Off-Broadway from 1981-83 and won an Obie award, Beyond Therapy which was on Broadway in 1982, Baby with the Bathwater (Playwrights Horizons, 1983), The Marriage of Bette and Boo, which showed at Public Theatre in 1985 and won an Obie award as well as a Dramatists Guild Hull Warriner Award, Laughing Wild (Playwrights Horizons, 1987), Durang/Durang (an evening of six plays at Manhattan Theatre Club, 1994, including the Tennessee Williams' parody, For Whom the Southern Belle Tolls), Sex and Longing (Lincoln Center Theatre production at the Cort Theatre, 1996, starring Sigourney Weaver), and Betty's Summer Vacation (Playwrights Horizons, 1999; Obie award).

Durang is also a performer who has acted in his own plays (Laughing Wild; The Marriage of Bette and Boo; Chris Durang and Dawne; and with Sigourney Weaver in their acclaimed Brecht-Weill parody, Das Lusitania Songspiel). He has also appeared in films such as The Secret of My Success, Mr. North, The Butcher's Wife, Housesitter and The Cowboy Way, among others. He has been co-chair with Marsha Norman of the Playwriting Program at the Juilliard School in Manhattan since 1994.

Miss Witherspoon was one of the three finalists for the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It premiered off Broadway at Playwrights Horizon in association with McCarter Theater on September 9, 2005.

Miss Witherspoon presents Christopher Durang’s common themes of child abuse and the Roman Catholic Dogma. Religious morals and lessons line the entire play as Veronica carries out her different reincarnated lives. 

The play follows Veronica, who’s depressing, jaded, suicidal views on life continue to lead her to destruction. She repeatedly states that she wants nothing more than to never feel, think or see anything ever again. She wants blackness, darkness, and emptiness. She wants nothing to do with an afterlife; she simply wishes to be turned off permanently. The only reincarnation she enjoys is when she is reincarnated as a dog. It is being amongst humanity that she hates most.

Maryamma, Veronica’s spirit guide, continually tries to teach Veronica lessons about the afterlife. Maryamma almost stands as the Catholic Holy Spirit, with Gandalf as the Holy Father, and the Black Woman as the Son. Veronica struggles with the idea of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and continues to fight Christian ideas.

The story of Ginny uses the Sleazy Man that sells her drugs at the playground as an image of Satan and temptation. The first time Ginny comes to him, she gives into the temptation and committs suicide, whereas the second time (which is unclear whether it is in a dream or in reality) she turns to the Jesus-like figure, the Teacher, and turns her life around.

Each life is a lesson to be learned, yet Veronica’s stubborn, murky aura does not allow her to learn from any of this. One of the strongest life lessons is when she returns as a dog and is then killed by the son of Mother 1.  This turning point leads to the overall cleansing of Veronica’s aura.

1. How was the woman in the chicken suit relevant to the opening scene? Why a chicken suit?
2. What do you think is the meaning of the nursery rhyme “Miss Witherspoon” ?
3. Did the timeline get confusing due to the fact that the story jumps back and forth so often?
4. What is actual reality for Veronica?
5. Why do you think Veronica still relived Ginny’s in her “anesthesia afterlife”, when the whole point of the “anesthesia afterlife” it was to experience complete emptiness- for those who did not believe in the afterlife?
6.  Why do you think that Father 1’s name is David and is also Gandalf at the end of the play?
7. Is the final scene with Veronica as the baby of Mother 1 and Father 1 an actual reincarnation? (Maryamma said she would have the ginger tea for Veronica when she returned, and ginger tea is offered to her parents in the final scene, what does this mean?)
8. What is significant about the fact that both the Teacher and Jesus are both represented by black women?

The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow

Rolin Jones is an established contemporary playwright and television writer. A native of the Woodland Hills section of Los Angeles, the 32-year old Rolin began his writing career after getting his undergraduate degree in filmmaking and English from Cal State Northridge and being accepted in the Yale School of Drama in 2001. Jones wrote his first play, "Once by the Pacific" that was staged at his undergrad alma mater, Cal State Northridge, in 1998, which seems to be the reason that he was accepted into the Yale School of DramaThe Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow was Jones's first "big hit" play. It was first staged at South Coast Repertory Theater in Costa Mesa, California around 2002. In 2004, Jones graduated from the Yale School of Drama, was named Playwright in Residence at YSD, and his second play, "Jammer" won the award for Best New Writing at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, which was also produced at the New York Internation Fringe Festival in 2004. in 2006, Jenny Chow won the Obie Award for Excellence in Playwriting and Jones was a finalist for the 2006 Pulitzer Prize. The play went on to be performed at many top theaters, including the Yale Repertory Theater and the Atlantic Theater Company in NYC.  He has written several other plays, including Soverignty, Ron Robby Had Too Big A Heart, The Mercury and the Magic, Extremely, and Chronicles Simpkins Will Cut Your Ass, all of which were compiled to be produced together with the title, Shortstack, performed at Wellfleet Harbor Actor's Theater in Wellfleet, MA.

After his acclaimed success in playwrighting, Jones was offered a job writing, producing, and story editing for Showtime's popular series, Weeds, and has had continued success today.

The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow is a full length play chronicling the life of an adolescent agoraphobic Asian-American teenager who was adopted as an infant. The play follows the teen, Jennifer Marcus, through her quest to find her birth mother all without leaving the confines of her home in Calbasas, California. Born a mechanics wiz, Jennifer is able to build an actual robot in the image of her desired self, named Jenny Chow, sans her pestering American mother. The play follows Jennifer in her quest for an identity all while highlighting the new norm of online/cyber communication versus real human interaction.

Questions to think about:


1.) What effect does Rolin's choice to include both Acts of the play without strict scene assignments (there aren't really "scenes" designated in the play, mostly the word blackout in the stage directions every now and then).

2.) Did you find the stage directions more helpful in a sense that they didn't just describe the setting but actually what the setting meant?

3.) What do you think is important about Todd as related to Jennifer?

4.) What do you think about Jones's choice to have Su Yang Chow played by the same actress who plays Adele Hartwick?

5.) Is it possible that Adele Hartwick could be cast as an Asian-American woman? What about Mr. Marcus and Todd?

6.) What do you think is the significance of the character of Terrence?

7.) Did you find this play hard to imagine as far as how the flying of Jenny Chow would be staged?

8.) Did you find the timeline hard to follow because of the lack of designated scenes?

The Weir

Conor McPherson is an Irish play wright and director. He was born in Dublin and began writing plays while at university.  He eventually went on to found Fly by Night Theatre Company, which has performed several of his plays. He has written 12 plays including The Weir, Port Authority, Shining City, and a stage adaptation of Daphne du Maurier’s story The Birds. He has won several awards for his plays as a whole Stewart Parker Award, Meyer Whitworth Award, Guinness/Royal National Theatre Ingenuity Award, Pearson TV Writer in Residence Award, Manchester Evening News Award Best Touring Production and nominations for the Tony Award for Best Play, the Tony Award for Best Play and Best Director and the Laurence Olivier and Evening Standard for Best Play. The awards he received for writing The Weir are Evening Standard Award, George Devine Award, Critics Circle Award, and Laurence Olivier Award.

In The Weir, we get four individuals sharing stories, that all have a supernatural slant, with the group. A weir is a low dam built across a river to raise the level of water upstream or regulate its flow. This is also an important theme in this play. There is a flow between the stories and their relationships with each other.

1)      Do you agree with the title of this play?

2)      Would you change it? To what?

3)      This play was written from the point of view of Irish people. I know I had problems understanding what they were talking about sometimes. Did any of you?

4)      Do you think your opinion of the play would change if you were from the Ireland? (It really isn’t that relevant a question but I think it’s an interesting thought)

5)      This play takes place in present day. Do you think it would be different at all if it was set in a different time period? Why or why not?

Dancing at Lughnasa

Brian Friel is an author, dramatist, and is the director of the Field Day Theatre Company. He was born in Omagh, County Tyrone in Northern Ireland. He was originally a Maths teacher in Derry Primary and intermediate school system until taking leave in 1960 to live of his savings and pursue a career as a writer. In 1987, he was nominated to be a member of Seanad Éireann (sort of like an Irish senate) by the then head of the government and served until 1989. At that time BBC Radio launched what they called a "Brian Friel Season" which was a series devoted to a six-play season of his work. He is the first living playwright to recive this honor.  He has written more than thirty plays throughout the past six decades but is best known for his plays Philadelphia, Here I Come! and Dancing at Lughnasa. He has won several awards including Donegal Person of the Year, Evening Standard Award for Best Play, New York Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Foreign Play, and the New York Drama Critics Circle award for best foreign play. He has also won Laurence Olivier award for Best Play, New York Drama Critics Circle award for best play, and several Tony awards, including Best Play for Dancing at Lughnasa.

Dancing at Lughnasa, is a play set in 1936 Ireland, and is a tale of five sisters who struggle with their identities and place in society. It shows their struggle to stay together as a family while dealing with each other and the world’s different ideals. It is told from the point of view of the character Michael, who is seven during the instances in the play but is never seen and is narrating the story outside of the play as an adult.

·         Why do you think Friel decided to not show Michael on stage when he was younger?

·         How do you think it would change the play if the seven year old Michael was show?

·         The time period the play is set in is obviously significant. How do you think it would affect the play if it was set in another time period?

·         Would the themes of the play still hold true?

·          What if it was set today?

·         Thoughts on the dancing and the music in the play?