A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

Grandpa Clemens & Angelfish: 1906

Short Play, Dramatic Comedy  /  4w, 1m

Joyce Carol Oates

Wild Nights! has been called by Fantastic Fiction "Joyce Carol Oates' most original and haunting work of the imagination" and by the Washington Post "imaginative, impressive work that spotlights another side of Oates's tale…

Grandpa Clemens & Angelfish: 1906

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  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    4w, 1m

Details

Summary
This play traces a Platonic love affair between the 70-year-old Sam Clemens/ "Mark Twain", the most famous literary man of his time, and a naively innocent 15-year-old schoolgirl who reminds him of his deceased daughter Suzy. In 1906 Clemens is a brilliant but dispirited public man in the twilight of his career—his great successes like Huckleberry Finn are behind him—and susceptible to the charms of girls young enough to be his granddaughters, whom he invites to join a "prestigious" and "exclusive" club called the Aquarium Club, in which Sam Clemens is the only adult member. Based upon a little-known and scandalous interlude in the later life of Samuel Clemens/ "Mark Twain" this play explores the poignancy of an elderly man's passionate love for a young girl and the disaster that results when his love is reciprocated
  • Cautions
    • Mild Adult Themes

Media

"Wild Nights! has been called by Fantastic Fiction "Joyce Carol Oates' most original and haunting work of the imagination" and by the Washington Post "imaginative, impressive work that spotlights another side of Oates's talent."

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  • Minimum Fee: $65 per performance
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Authors

Joyce Carol Oates

Joyce Carol Oates

Joyce Carol Oates grew up in the countryside outside of Lockport, New York, where she attended a one-room schoolhouse in the elementary grades. As a small child, she told stories instinctively by way of drawing and painting before learning how to write. After receiving the gi ...

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