Jonah
Play Description
JONAH is a rumination on the story of the man and the sea. Jonah's a man on the run. He hops a Greyhound to Joppa and then grabs a cabin on the ocean-bound Carnival Princess. Drinking away his sorrows at the ship's Grass Skirt Grill, the lounge band Sheila and the Lovetones plays him into a stupor before he tumbles into the waves. Len Jenkin's JONAH is a contemporary retelling of the unfaithful servant; some love stories about the evil city of Ninevah, a Dairy Queen, and of course, the whale.
Production Info
Cast: 9 total (4 female, 5 male)Full Length Drama (about 100 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Contemporary Costumes
- Reviews
- About the Author(s)
- About the Book
- Special Notes
Press Quotes
“Life’s a beach and then a whale swallows you … Playwright Len Jenkin’s take on the eco-friendliest Bible story in Sunday school is a 100-minute storm of Hawaiian shirts, mermaid skirts and foot-high tropical cocktails served up inside a scalloped circus tent … Just like the Bible says, God stirs up a storm to drown everybody because Jonah, that no account coward and womanizer, refuses to do His will and go preach repentance to the sinners in Nineveh. What we don’t know is the outcome for all the luckless passengers and crew that sailed out to party until they hit land … The fun of a Len Jenkin play is in the wild mix-up of the cocktails and characters operating in a time-warped space where Rhodes scholars and pirate Jezebels stomp [and] fervently sing … They shake, writhe, and wax poetic to accordions and guitars and even an oboe and cello … The show is mesmerizing while you watch — and evocative long after you have left the theater.” —Martha Heimberg, TheaterJones
“Best New Play: … incredible … The frenzied take on the Biblical beach tale featured kaleidoscopic characters and heartwarming stories interwoven in a way that was meaningful, intellectual and fun … [a] hat trick.” —Dallas Observer
Author(s)
Len JenkinLen Jenkin is a novelist, playwright, director, and screenwriter. His novels include N Judah, New Jerusalem, and The Secret Life of Billy's Uncle Myron (with Emily Jenkins). Plays include DARK RIDE, PILGRIMS OF THE NIGHT, CARELESS LOVE, MY UNCLE SAM, LIMBO TALES, THE DREAM EXPRESS, and LIKE I SAY. His works for the stage have been produced throughout the United States, as well as in England, Germany, France, Denmark, and Japan. His films include Blame It on the Night, Welcome to Oblivion, and American Notes. He has received many honors and awards, including three Obie awards for directing and playwriting, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Rockefeller Foundation Award, a nomination for an Emmy Award, and four National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships. Mr. Jenkin holds a Ph.D. in American Literature from Columbia University. He's a Professor in the Dramatic Writing Department, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University, and lives in New York City.
Book Information
| Publisher | BPPI |
|---|---|
| Publication Date | 5/17/2018 |
| Pages | 70 |
| ISBN | 9780881457704 |
Special Notes
If original stage producers credits appear in bold below, all licensees are required to include them in the following form on the title page in all programs distributed in connection with performances of the Play and in all advertising in which the full cast appears in size of type not less than ten percent (10%) of the size of the title of the Play:
First produced by Undermain Theater, Dallas
In addition, the following must appear within all programs distributed in connection with performances of the Play:
by special arrangement with Broadway Play Publishing Inc, NYC
www.broadwayplaypub.com
Related Plays
$15.00–$15.95
Play Description
Erica, shy and more than a little socially awkward, is in love with Dee. The problem is that her politician sister, her only and equally awkward new friend, and the nosy residents of their small town in Massachusetts don’t understand at all, because Dee … well, Dee is a Dairy Queen sign. INANIMATE is a play that explores objectum sexuality, feeling like an outsider, listening to your heart and finally, finding your tribe.
Production Info
Cast: 7 total (3 female, 4 male)Full Length Comedy (about 90 minutes)
Multiple Sets
Contemporary Costumes
$0.00–$15.95
Play Description
In WOLF IN THE RIVER, Adam Rapp explores love and neglect, the challenges of poverty, the dangerous cost of shiftlessness, the simple notion of leaving a place behind, and the value of a girl.
Production Info
Cast: 7 total (3 female, 4 male, ensemble chorus)Full Length Drama (about 105 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Contemporary Costumes
$15.00–$15.95
Play Description
Christopher Marlowe, sixteenth-century author, was murdered at the age of 29. This tragicomedy speculates that his death was tied to his scandalous play about the relationship between Jesus and the disciple John.
Production Info
Cast: 3 total (3 male)Full Length Drama (about 105 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Period Costumes
$15.00
Play Description
Hallie Flanagan Davis headed the Federal Theater in the 1930s and 40s — until the anti-art element in Congress decided that federal support of what they saw as lazy left-wing artists must end. This play, based on the tumultuous hearings before the House UnAmerican Activities Committee, pits artists against philistines and demonstrates that then, as now, politics and art don’t mix.
Production Info
Cast: 8 total (2 female, 6 male)Full Length Drama (about 100 minutes)
Single Set
Contemporary Costumes
$15.00–$15.95
Play Description
Inspired by the life of Hatshepsut, a woman who ruled as a pharaoh in ancient Egypt. Under the guidance of Senenmut, her female lover, Hatshepsut usurps the throne from her son-in-law, Thutmose III. Full of intrigue, farce, and sexual politics, FIT FOR A QUEEN is a tragicomedy of epic proportions with a modern sensibility.
Production Info
Cast: 7 total (4 female, 3 male)Full Length Drama (about 100 minutes)
Multiple Sets
Period Costumes
$15.00
Play Description
The sweep of Eleanor’s entire life — from her early marriage to Louis VII, King of France, through her marriage to Henry II of England, to her imprisonment, reign and death — is encompassed in this action-packed, highly literate drama. Through every challenge, Eleanor, with her grace and independence — in a world which expected women to stay in their place — triumphs, as wife, soldier, mother, queen and patron of the Courts of Love.
Production Info
Cast: 16 total (5 female, 11 male, doubling possible)Full Length Drama (about 140 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Period Costumes
$15.00–$15.95
Play Description
In this gripping ghost story an eccentric librarian discovers a weather-beaten book in a return bin — 113 years overdue. Sparked by a message left in its margins, he embarks on a magical quest that takes him around the world and 2,000 years into the past. With astonishing twists and turns, UNDERNEATH THE LINTEL draws us into an unforgettable odyssey.
Production Info
Cast: 1 total (1 male)Full Length Drama (about 65 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Contemporary Costumes
$15.00–$15.95
Play Description
The play takes place in Priscilla’s bedroom, in a forest, and in the big blue sky outside. A friend named Peter comes to visit Priscilla. There is a wolf who lives in a fabulous land next door. It is a play about Priscilla who sets out in her mind to slay this beast that lurks outside her window.
Production Info
Cast: 7 total (4 female, 3 male)Full Length Drama (about 100 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Contemporary Costumes
$15.00
Play Description
A Play with Music — the music of Frederic Chopin. George Sand had many lovers — but the one to whom she was most attached, and who almost ruined her life, was Frederic Chopin. His illness and dependency, the rivalries of two artists living under the same roof, the conflicting demands of two careers, all these batter the relationship. But most damaging is what the affair does to her family. Sand is hailed as an icon of female liberation. In GEORGE AND FREDERIC we see what can be the consequences of that liberation. Her rebellious daughter, Solange, embraces the tenets of feminism as an excuse for wild behavior, eventually causing the final rift between her mother and her mother’s lover. To assert his own creativity in this maelstrom, Maurice, George’s doting and doted-upon son, creates puppets of each member of this explosive ménage, puppets who, throughout the play, comment wryly on all the heated goings-on with humor, irony, and wit.
Production Info
Cast: 6 total (2 female, 4 male)Full Length Drama (about 125 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Period Costumes
$15.00–$15.95
Play Description
A fantastical “Kafkaesque” journey through time and space.
Production Info
Cast: 12 total (6 female, 6 male)Full Length Drama (about 90 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Contemporary Costumes
$15.00–$15.95
Play Description
When the Ring family of Rhode Island assembles to take the family portrait, they somehow get it dreadfully wrong and must do the century all over.
Production Info
Cast: 5 total (3 female, 2 male, doubling, bit parts)Full Length Comedy (about 90 minutes)
Single Set
Contemporary Costumes
$15.00–$15.95
Play Description
Inspired by true events: on a Tennessee hilltop, heroes in training meet in secret. All are changed. Some change America.
Production Info
Cast: 6 total (3 female, 3 male)Full Length Drama (about 110 minutes)
Minimal Set Requirements
Period Costumes