Plays That Teach History

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William Gibson’s drama The Miracle Worker chronicles the relationship between the real-life Helen Keller, a young girl from Alabama who was blind and deaf, and her teacher, the Irish, headstrong Annie Sullivan from Boston. The play follows a three-act structure and was adapted from Gibson’s 1957 Playhouse 90 teleplay. The staged production premiered in New York City at the Playhouse Theatre in 1959. The show received five Tony Award nominations in 1960 and won four... Read The Miracle Worker Summary

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Written and first performed in 472 BC, the ancient Greek tragedy The Persians by Aeschylus is the oldest extant example of the genre. Known as the father of Greek tragedy, Aeschylus was also a veteran of the Greco-Persian wars, on which The Persians is based. Because it depicts recent events, The Persians stands out from other plays of the genre, which for the most part focus on the distant past or mythological heroes. The approach was a... Read The Persians Summary

Translations is a three-act play by Irish playwright Brian Friel. The first performance was staged in Guidehall, Derry with the Field Day Theatre Company, which was founded by Friel. Dealing with themes of communication, progress, and rebellion, Translations’ premiere, in September 1980, was backgrounded by The Troubles, a period of tremendous cultural and political change in Northern Ireland. Shortly after the premiere of Translations, Bobby Sands led the historic Irish Hunger Strike, along with nine other... Read Translations Summary

Two Trains Running by August Wilson first opened in 1990 at the Yale Repertory Theatre with Samuel L. Jackson as Wolf and Laurence Fishburne playing Sterling. The play premiered on Broadway in 1992, receiving four Tony nominations in 1992 including Best Play. Two Trains Running is a part of Wilson’s Century Cycle, also known as the Pittsburgh Cycle, which consists of 10 plays: one for each decade of the 20th century, each depicting the changing... Read Two Trains Running Summary

Zoot Suit is a play by Luis Valdez. It debuted in 1978. Valdez has spent his career addressing issues that are crucial to the Chicano community in the United  States. Unlike Valdez’s earlier works, Zoot Suit stages a historical rather than a contemporary event to broach important social issues. As Jorge Huerta illuminates, “Zoot Suit is the logical culmination of all that Valdez and his collective had written before, combining elements of the acto, mito... Read Zoot Suit Summary