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| Category: Fiction:Drama:Plays |
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| About the Book | |
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“A tour de force of verse drama,” said Craig Watson, Literary Manager of Trinity Repertory Company.
“A beautiful lyrical treatment,” wrote Robert Falls, Artistic Director, Goodman Theater. “A handsome balance between the elegance of Hawthorne and the real passion these characters need to sustain our engagement.” The classic love story of Hester Prynne and Arthur Dimmesdale recalls the Biblical myth of Adam and Eve, who for their transgression suffer expulsion. Yet in their suffering, they gain the knowledge of what it means to be a sympathetic and understanding human being. For Hester, the scarlet letter is her passport into regions where other women dare not tread. She is a pioneer and a modern women. She wishes to determine her own identity rather than to allow others to determine it for her. She envisions, like Hawthorne, a brighter future where “a new truth would be revealed, in order to establish the whole relation between man and woman on a surer ground of mutual happiness.” For her lover Arthur Dimmesdale, only torment awaits for he does not possess the strength to embrace Hester’s truth: that individuality and strength are gained by quiet self-assertion and by a reconfiguration, not a rejection, of one’s identity and place in society. “A wonderful adaptation, splendidly written and characterized,” said James Magruder of Center Stage Baltimore.” Nearon the threshold of this my narrative There stands a rose. It has been kept alive In history, surviv’d the wilderness Long after pine and oak have abdicated. ’Tis cover’d now, this month of June, with gems According fragrance and fragile beauty, A token showing Nature’s deepest heart Can still be kind to the outlaw coming forth. To you, the listener, one flower tender’d here As sweet and moral blossom and as relief To a tale of human frailty and abject grief.
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| Reviews | |
"...a beautifully lyrical treatment,...a handsome balance between the elegance of Hawthorne and the real passion these characters need to sustain our engagement." "We particularly enjoyed the piece's theatricality, its vivid imagery, and the intelligent and beautifully crafted poetry." "...a tour de force of verse drama. The play feels tremendously authentic and passionate throughout. ...a strong and compelling work."
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| About the Author | |
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D. A. Dorwart's award-winning work has been seen on and off-Broadway, in regional theatre and opera, and on television. He has contributed as a guest artist at MIT, Suffolk University, Radcliffe, UTennessee, East Carolina University, Rutgers, AADA, NYU, and Juilliard. He holds an A.B. from Amherst College, a M.F.A. from Smith College, and has done post-graduate work at NYU in film as well as at the UBirmingham, the Stratford Shakespeare Institute, and the RSC in England. |