A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

Homesteaders

Full-Length Play, Drama  /  3w, 2m

Nina Shengold

"Striking new playwright and play...What an extraordinary debut." - Los Angeles Herald Examiner
"Remarkable for eviscerating honesty." - Los Angeles Times

Homesteaders

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  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    3w, 2m
  • Duration
    Duration
    105 Minutes
  • Suggested Use
    • Monologues
    • Scene work
    • Competition or audition material
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult, Senior, Teen (Age 14 - 18)

Details

Summary

It is 1979 on an island in southeast Alaska. Fisherman Neal Raftery returns from a week long stay in town with his deck hand, a New Yorker who calls herself Jake. In Alaska for summer adventure, Jake soon discovers she has joined a complicated household. Over the course of the eventful summer, its five troubled inhabitants struggle to come to terms with themselves, each other, and the past.

History
Homesteaders was first presented by producing directors Bruce Bouchard & Peter H. Clough at the Capital Repertory Company in Albany, New York, in February 1983. It was directed June Stein. The play was subsequently presented by artistic director Arvin Brown at the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut, in Frebruary 1984. It was directed by John Pasquin.
Keywords
Performing Groups

NEAL RAFTERY - a subsistence fisherman, 38. Powerful, charismatic, rage shielding warmth, deeply needy.
JACK RAFTERY - his brother, 30. Quick, light, irrepressible, a dodger, strength on reserve.
EDRA STONE - Jack's fiancee, 33. Earthy, worn, pragmatic, doesn't miss trick.
JACQUELINE "JAKE" ROBBINS - 24. Vibrant, energetic, wide open, self-efficacy eager to please, stronger than she knows.
LAUREL SIERRA MILLIS - 14, smart, sacracastic and very deeply bruised. Tries to cover her needs with an angry toughness. Can't.
DICK and GUS - good ole boys, any age.
OSIE OLSEN - a hearty ex-logging camp cook in her sixties.

Dick, Gus, and Osie Olsen are voices on CB Marine Radio

  • Time Period 1970s
  • Setting Summer, 1979.
  • Features Contemporary Costumes / Street Clothes, Period Costumes
  • Duration 105 Minutes
  • Cautions
    • Mild Adult Themes

Media

"Striking new playwright and play...What an extraordinary debut." - Los Angeles Herald Examiner

"Remarkable for eviscerating honesty." - Los Angeles Times

"Fine new play with a view of an unusual world...Each character is a fully developed real human being and all are colorful...There is humor and tragedy in this always absorbing and suspenseful drama." - New Haven Journal Courier

"Landmark American drama." - Fairpress

Music

  • Musical Style N/A (Not a musical)
  • Vocal DemandsN/A (Not a musical)
  • Chorus Size N/A (Not a musical)

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: $120 per performance

Scripts

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Authors

Nina Shengold

Nina Shengold
Nina Shengold won the Writers Guild Award for her teleplay Labor of Love, starring Marcia Gay Harden, and the ABC Playwright Award for Homesteaders. Her one-act plays have been produced throughout the U.S. and in Canada, Europe, Asia, and New Zealand; No Shoulder was filmed b ...
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