Children of a Lesser God

A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

Children of a Lesser God

Full-Length Play, Drama  /  4w, 3m

Mark Medoff

Winner of the Tony Award, the Olivier Award, and the Drama Desk Award as best play of the season, this deeply moving, beautifully written play details the romance and marriage of a sensitive but spirited deaf girl and the devoted (and hearing) young teacher whom she meets at a school for the deaf. 

Image: 2018 Broadway Production (Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade)

  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    4w, 3m
Accolades
Accolades
  • WINNER – 1980 Tony Award, Best Play
    WINNER – 1981 Laurence Olivier Award, Best New Play
    WINNER – 1980 Drama Desk Award, Outstanding New Play

Details

Summary
After three years in the Peace Corps, James, a young speech therapist, joins the faculty of a school for the deaf, where he is to teach lip-reading. He meets Sarah, a school dropout, totally deaf from birth, and estranged both from the world of hearing and from those who would compromise to enter that world. Fluent in sign language, James tries, with little success, to help Sarah, but gradually the two fall in love and marry. At first their relationship is a happy and glowing one, as the gulf of silence between them seems to be bridged by their desire to understand each other's needs and feelings, but discord soon develops as Sarah becomes militant for the rights of the deaf and rejects any hint that she is being patronized and pitied. In the end the chasm between the worlds of sound and silence seems almost too great to cross…but love and compassion hold the hope of reconciliation, and a deeper, fuller understanding of differences that, in the final essence, can unite as well as divide.
History
Children of a Lesser God premiered on Broadway at the Longacre Theatre in March of 1980 under the direction of Gardon Davidson, following a successful run at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles. 
Keywords

Media

REVIEWS

"Children of a Lesser God, in short and in sum, is the season's unexpected find, a play unlike any other and immensely likable in its self-assertion." – The New York Times

"Children of a Lesser God is an extraordinary play—illuminating, consistently interesting and moving." – Variety

"In any season this play would be a major event, a play of great importance, absorbing and interesting, full of love, understanding and passion." – The New York Post

"…an authentic work of art." – The New Yorker

Photos

  • Children of a Lesser God

    Image: 2018 Broadway Production (Matthew Murphy for MurphyMade)

Licensing & Materials

  • Licensing available for professional groups only. Some restrictions apply.

Scripts

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Authors

Author

Mark Medoff

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