PLAYNOTES Season: 44 Issue: 05

PLAYNOTES Season: 44 Issue: 05

Background Information Interviews & Commentary Discussion Series The Artistic Perspective, hosted by Artistic Director Anita Stewart, is an opportunity for audience members to delve deeper into the themes of the show through conversation with special guests. A different scholar, visiting artist, playwright, or other expert will join the discussion each time. The Artistic Perspective discussions are held after the first Sunday matinee performance.

Page to Stage discussions are presented in partnership with the Portland Public Library. These discussions, led by Portland Stage artistic staff, actors, directors, and designers answer questions, share stories and explore the challenges of bringing a particular play to the stage. Page to Stage occurs at noon on the Tuesday after a show opens at the Portland Public Library’s Main Branch.

Curtain Call discussions offer a rare opportunity for audience members to talk about the production with the performers. Through this forum, the audience and cast explore topics that range from the process of rehearsing and producing the text to character development to issues raised by the work Curtain Call discussions are held after the second Sunday matinee performance.

All discussions are free and open to the public. Show attendance is not required. Portland Stage Company Educational Programs are generously supported through the annual To subscribe to a discussion series performance, please call the Box Office at 207.774.0465. donations of hundreds of individuals and businesses, as well as special funding from:

Content Warning: The PlayNotes issue deals with sensitive topics including anti-Semitism, ableism, sexism, nuclear weapons, war, and generational trauma.

George & Cheryl Higgins

The Onion Foundation

The Davis Family Foundation

Our Education Media partner is

Herring caught off the coast of Maine. Thoughts from the Editors Thoughts from the Editors The first mystery I remember ever being passionately interested in was the fate of the Russian Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov, whose family Thoughts from the Editors: was killed by Bolshevik police during the Russian Revolution in 1918. My imagination was captured by the animated movie Anastasia (1997), as well What Mystery Has Always as a special Mystery Hunters episode about her on Discovery Kids in the early 2000s. While many of the movies, books, and TV shows that featured Anastasia were fictionalized, the truth was as follows: for almost 90 years Intrigued You? after the death of the Romanov family, Anastasia’s grave was never found, Growing up in Southeastern Virginia, the mystery of the Lost Colony of prompting many to believe that she had somehow escaped death and made Roanoke was one that always intrigued me from a young age. Every year a new life, elsewhere. While some questions have been answered in the since before I was born, my family has gone on vacation to the Outer Banks last decade (which I will let you Google for yourself), a part of me will always of North Carolina, and from the time that I was six or seven years old, I went wonder what exactly happened. to see the Lost Colony theatrical production, which has been performed for 81 - Clare McCormick, Directing & Dramaturgy Intern years on the same land where the events took place. In the play, you get to see all of the important players: Queen Elizabeth, Sir Walter Raleigh, Manteo, Wanchese, and the first English child born in North America, Virginia Dare. Even in the play, there is no clear ending for the colony; the story ends with Five years ago, I finally got to visit one of the most intriguing places I’d ever everyone packing up and leaving the settlement. There are a few theories studied: Chichén Itzá. On a hot summer morning on the Yucatán peninsula about what happened to these people. Some believe that Wanchese and of Mexico, I stood looking up at El Castillo, an awe-inspiring step pyramid his supporters massacred them all. Others think that the Spanish found the towering far above me. Though many Maya survived and today, millions colony and kidnapped or murdered all of the colonists before new supplies thrive, the cities like Chichén Itzá were suddenly abandoned around the 8th could get to them. By far the most popular theory is that the Roanoke and 9th centuries. As I continued exploring the Temple of the Warriors, the colonists traveled to find the nearby tribe of Croatan because the only clue to Great Ball Court, and more in this beautiful city built long ago by the Maya, I their whereabouts was the letters “CRO” carved into a tree. In 2015, further thought something might become apparent in the great mystery of how this archeological evidence suggested that at least some portion of the colonists of incredible group of indigenous people so suddenly disappeared…and yet, Roanoke became absorbed into two Native American tribes in close proximity to this day, it remains unclear how the civilization of over 19 million people to Roanoke. However, we may never know what really happened to the first went from flourishing to ruins in mere hundreds of years. Theories have been British colony in North America. suggested by researchers, from invasion to revolt to supernatural forces; the - Katie Baskerville, Directing & Dramaturgy Intern current leading theory links the collapse to deforestation, drought, and climate change. Yet for now, this mystery is unsolved, and will continue to intrigue me. - Kayla M. Kaufman, Directing & Dramaturgy Intern

In November 2013, my family stayed at a house on Lake Champlain, the lake between New York and Vermont. One day we drove across the lake to the town of Port Henry in New York, and encountered a sign that had the names of many people who claimed to have seen a lake monster named Champ in While it’s not a true crime, I often wonder about Agatha Christie’s mystery the 1980s. Immediately I was reminded of Nessie, a dinosaur-like aquatic novel The Murder of Roger Ackroyd. In a quintessential small town, a man creature that supposedly inhabits Loch Ness in Inverness, Scotland. I was is murdered in his own locked study, and the detective Hercule Poirot must fascinated that a similar myth existed in more than one country, and that each catch the culprit. At first, it seems like a formulaic paperback mystery, like a creature had a following of determined and convinced viewers. Although these game of Clue, or even a knockoff Holmes story. It’s even narrated by a kindly creatures are supposed legends, and often proven to be hoaxes, there is doctor, much as John Watson narrates Sherlock Holmes’s adventures. But something fascinating about searching for a mysterious creature as decades the twist ending (SPOILER ALERT) still chills the spine – it turns out that go by. People are intrigued and thrilled by the possibility of discovering a our trusted narrator, our detective’s humble sidekick, was the killer all along. secret, unknown monster. Even the law accepts and respects local people’s It’s as if Watson turned out to be a murderer. It’s like finishing Harry Potter appreciation and culture towards a mythic monster. In the early 1980s, and the Chamber of Secrets only to discover that Harry secretly was the one Vermont passed a House Resolution to protect Champ, and New York passed attacking people. In one book, Agatha Christie both shapes and deconstructs resolutions in the State Assembly and Senate for an equal purpose. Although I the detective genre. Can anyone be trusted? am personally wary of Nessie and Champ’s real existence, there is something - Nolan Ellsworth, Education Intern also alluring about believing in a mystery even if we know it’s been solved. It helps us maintain our curiosity towards the natural world and also create a mythology within our culture. - Celia Watson, Education Intern

4 Red Herring PlayNotes 5 Focus Questions Table of Contents Focus Questions by Nolan Ellsworth & Celia Watson Table of Contents 1. Define “politics.” How can politics both negatively and positively affect personal relationships? Portland Stage's Red Herring About the Play 8 2. What is a “red herring”? What are some examples of a red herring? Interview with the Director: Michael Rafkin 9 3. How far would you go to do something for someone you love? Interview with the Costume Designer: Kathleen P. Brown 11 Interview with the Playwright: Michael Hollinger 12 4. What is a mystery you've always wanted to solve? Meet the Cast: What Codeword Would You Use To Prove Your Identity? 14 5. What is a prized possession you would trust with someone else? The World of Red Herring Cold War Timeline 16 Pre-Show Activities Introduction to Communism 18 by Nolan Ellsworth & Celia Watson Communism & McCarthyism in America 19 1. Think of a time period you have studied. Imagine that you are writing a romantic comedy (rom com) The Race for Nuclear Power 20 that takes places during this time period. What key people or events will your rom com include? For Girls Just Wanna Fight Crime 21 instance, Red Herring is set in the 1950s and features Soviet spies, FBI agents, Joseph McCarthy’s daughter, and the first test of the hydrogen bomb. Write a one-page outline of your romantic comedy. Then set a timer for ten minutes, and free-write the dialogue for your opening scene. Red Herring in the Classroom Post-Show Activities 22 2. Red Herring features a 1950s jingle for a company that sells tins of herring. Watch a 1950s advertisement video or radio clip online with a jingle and analyze the way that the product is being sold. 1952: Bert the Turtle & Checkers the Dog 23 Then pick an everyday object and create your own jingle. As an extra step, write and film your own Forensics! For Kids! 24 video commercial using the jingle! Winslow Homer & Herring Net 26 Glossary 27

Digging Deeper What is a Red Herring? 30 Noir & Its Influence on American Culture 31 A New and Most Cruel Bomb 32 The Argument for De-Escalation 34 Anti-Semitism & The Red Scare 36 McCarthyism & The Arts 37 Are You A Good Spy Or A Bad Spy? 38 USA Media in the Cold War: Can You Call it Censorship? 40 Feminism in the '50s 41 Fishing for Trouble: Fishing Industry & Climate Change 42 Laughing at Whose Expense? 43

Outreach & Advocacy 46

Borden's slogan of the 1950s: "All aboard, all a-Borden's!" Recommended Resources 48

6 Red Herring PlayNotes 7 Portland Stage’s Red Herring Portland Stage’s Red Herring About the Play Interview with the Director by Clare McCormick by Clare McCormick The year is 1952, Boston is dripping with crime, danger and great, great fun. Six actors jump Bogart grabs him, pulls his jacket down, and and the air is thick with Cold War threats of Soviet their way between eighteen characters, deftly slaps his face, saying, “Don’t you even think espionage. Gumshoe Maggie Pelletier is chasing weaving together lines of dialogue that feature about trying it, you dopey b*****d.” But the fact a whale of a serial killer, and when her case’s snappy crime statistics, declarations of devotion, that I can remember that it was Elijah Cook Jr., wires cross with her G-man boyfriend Frank’s and countless punchlines (along with some who was on screen for maybe all of five minutes, search for a Russian spy, all this collusion quickly actual punches). is part of that legacy. There are no throwaways in turns to confusion: false leads, fake names, and a good noir story. red herrings galore start busting out all over. Despite its murder-filled docks and Soviet CM: You’re right – and this is especially the case While the two get to untangling, we also get dalliances, Red Herring is, at its core, a play with Red Herring. It’s so fast-paced and there’s no acquainted with Andrei, a Russian fisherman with about love and marriage. Each character is room for fluff. Everything has to be important! a mystery past; Mrs. Kravitz, a South Pacific- lonely in their own way, looking for clues that will mad landlady who’d do anything for love; Lynn, lead them to their other half. It is this that makes MR: Yes, and especially so because there are a young woman with conspiracy thrust upon her; Hollinger’s play, set close to seventy years ago, 24 scenes, and each scene is only six or seven minutes. It’s not like I’m trying to figure out the and James, a conflicted young man who wants to so transcendent: despite our chronological and Michael Rafkin. save the world from nuclear destruction. geographical distance from 1950s Boston, we arc of act one, scene two of Long Day’s Journey Clare McCormick: I know that throughout this Into Night, where I have to be really careful about can still appreciate how having a partner can rehearsal process, you’ve mentioned so many who’s doing what. This play is like, “Come on, Michael Hollinger’s Red Herring is a dizzying make the Cold War that much warmer. different classic noir films that have influenced let’s go into the bar and drink and leave.” Very and delightful journey back in time, to an era that you, and are informing this production. What is it most of us know best through noir films like The Hailed for its “well-crafted silliness” (Philadelphia about noir that’s just so appealing? fast-paced. Even though the scenes are only six Third Man, The Maltese Falcon, and Chinatown, Inquirer) and its “short scenes, crisp dialogue, minutes, they happen intensely. Michael Rafkin: Well, first of all, it’s so moody– crime stories characterized by cynicism, fatalism, and sharp wisecracks” (DC Metro Theater Arts), it’s dark, it’s foggy, the lighting is so full of and moral ambiguity. Detectives brood and slink Michael Hollinger’s Red Herring is a play that’s CM: We’ve talked about how lovable and chiaroscuro! There’s all of this isolated light and their way through foggy streets, femmes fatales sure to bring out your inner sleuth. Don your compelling noir characters can be. Do you relate music. It’s so theatrical! You know it’s real. And lure their prey, and truths are concealed and deerstalker hats, pick up your magnifying glasses, to any of Red Herring’s characters in particular? that’s the big challenge of this piece–how far revealed. However, Hollinger’s play is more of and get ready to crack an almost classic case. MR: Jeez, I think I see myself in all of them. can you push it before it turns into a cartoon? a free-wheeling take on noir, as it is equal parts Who hasn’t made a mistake in their life? Who That’s not where you want to go. But before you hasn’t been betrayed? I don’t have a wife in a get there, everything is a little bigger than life. Soviet gulag, obviously, but yeah. Particularly Everything is a little more intense. Noir is edgy when you’re young, you have these intense and raw, in a way–a lot of people get slapped relationships that go awry. For my personal around, but it’s not the sort of “scare,” “boo,” background, most of my family is Eastern violence that you see now in action movies. The European and Russian, so Andrei speaks to other thing about noir is that it’s so character- me. He’s so heartful. And I’m so excited for this driven! It’s not about blowing stuff up, or running cast. When we auditioned, and Gary Littman into buildings, or car chases. It’s all about people. (Andrei) read, I knew right off that he was just The people that played them were luminaries. going right to the heart of the character. I’m a And the whole thing was just so beautifully lit. wicked sentimentalist. I can’t relate much to And I can’t wait to see what Bryon Winn (lighting Lynn, but she’s wicked fun. And I was never as designer) comes up with for this. naïve as James. But we’ve all had our share of being burned, and getting dumped, and longing CM: You’re right–modern takes on noir often walk a really thin line between loving tribute and desperately for somebody. caricature, and you have to be really careful. CM: The plot of Red Herring can get really MR: Well, look at Quentin Tarantino. Look at how convoluted–it seems like directing it is like huge Pulp Fiction was. But that was more about juggling a bowling ball, a chainsaw, and an egg all “grindhouse” movies, which don’t interest me at at once. How do you keep track of everything? all. In a lot of these noir things, every single role MR: You know, you think you have it, and then was a vivid character. Look at Maltese Falcon, you just keep on falling off a cliff! Sometimes I where every gangster is memorable: Elijah Cook Red Herring Production at Act II Playhouse in Ambler, PA. feel like I know exactly what a scene is about, Jr. goes to pull a gun on Humphrey Bogart, and

8 Red Herring PlayNotes 9 Portland Stage’s Red Herring Portland Stage’s Red Herring and then the actor does it, and you’re like, “What of it, and God knows, like most in the business, was I thinking?” There’s an enormous amount of I’ve had a hundred wacky straight jobs. But it has Interview with the Costume Designer: detail in the show. I don’t think I’ve ever read and sort of been my life. charted a script as many times as I did on this Kathleen P. Brown one. Thank goodness I had months before we CM: I know you have a very long history at by Katie Baskerville went into rehearsal. I just kept reading it over and Portland Stage– Katie Baskerville: How do you begin your process over again. Finally, in the end, I got in touch with MR: Maine theater in general. I came here as a costume designer? the playwright and asked him about all the things straight from graduate school, with a group of Kathleen P. Brown: First, I read the script, I couldn’t make sense of. I just read this over and people who wanted to start a rep company in highlighting any specific references to costumes. over and over. Probably at least 30 times. Maine. The first thing I did was that I had a semi- Then, I have a conversation with the Director professional group called the Rockport Theater to discuss time period, characters and overall CM: Like you said, this play is, at its core, about Ensemble. Then I wound up moving down to concept/look for that production. love and relationships. Although it is set in 1952, Portland and joining Profile [the original name why do you think it’s important to do in 2018? of Portland Stage], and went a couple of years KB: What is different about designing a show MR: I think it’s because of what it has to say with that, and then I went to New York, and then where actors play multiple characters? about the how the heart still yearns. Everybody’s I came back and started the Maine Actors Studio KPB: Making the individual characters distinctive got history, everybody’s got problems, but with a bunch of well-known professionals, most is important. The goal in this production is not to everybody yearns for love. On some level, this of whom are very well-known and still around. hide the fact that the actors are playing multiple play asks what you’re willing to do for love. And then there was Mad Horse, and I was part characters, but to provide enough costume pieces People have killed for love. And talk about of an improv company called Mixed Nuts, I was that help the actor and the audience recognize a difficult balance – you get to the end, and teaching privately, I was involved with a radio each character. Also, to make the costume there’s espionage, and treason, and murder, theater group called the Rocky Coast Radio changes as easy as possible. and attempted murder, and it’s not a whole lot Theater. It’s really been one of those things different than Chekhov’s Three Sisters! It’s the where it’s just, if you want this, you better make KB: During your design presentation, you used Kathleen P. Brown. human story – love, loss, dreams, and betrayals. it happen. And you look at all the young theater image collages and discussed old Hollywood Isn’t that Miller, and Ibsen, and even Euripides? companies in Maine now, particularly around movie actors and characters as your inspiration. We’ve been telling the same stories ever since Portland, and it’s all people who told themselves Is this something that is specific to 20th century we started telling them. that if they wanted it to happen, they would make period pieces, or do you do this with a variety of it happen. And it’s been like that since 1972 when projects? How do these associations help you as CM: What’s the most important thing an audience I got here. a designer? member should take away from seeing Red KPB: When I begin my design research, I always Herring? CM: There’s something about Maine, and how start with referencing images from the time MR: That love is worth all the trials and tribulations it attracts people in transitional periods of their period that the play is set in. As a visual artist, that we go through to find it and keep it. lives, isn’t there? that process is incredibly helpful for me, and by Dancing at Lughnasa, 2015, Portland Stage. Costume designed by Kathleen P. Brown. MR: Oh, yes. My astrologer calls Maine “the sharing the images that inspire me, it helps to CM: How did you find this career as a director? hospital state.” It’s where people come to get well. create a conversation with the director. Often, KPB: Everything can change during the rehearsal process; it could be that the actor is going in a MR: I was always interested in theater. The big the director and I are sharing images back and different direction for his/her character, or that the joke in my family is that I started as a pre-med, CM: What’s the best piece of advice that anyone forth well before rehearsals start, in order to physicality has shifted things in a way that makes which destroyed my GPA! But at the middle of gave you at the start of your career? solidify the "look" that we both mutually agree it too challenging for the original costume design my sophomore year, my advisor called me in and MR: It’s the same thing you hear from every on. For Red Herring, film noir was obviously to be realistic. I have a lot of conversations with said, look, if you want to go to med school, we idealist: do what you love. I don’t think it’s an important reference for style and mood. The actors during fittings, and always value their have to get your grades up. For the most part, I necessarily true that if you do what you love, the director Michael and I also talked a lot about opinions and input. Ultimately, my goal is to assist was virtually flunking the sciences. She told me money will follow. But a man I knew in Rockport various 40s and 50s movie actors in regards to the actor in realizing his/character, but also for to go home over the weekend, think it over, and said something to me: if you know what it is you each iconic character, since so much of this play comfort to be heavily considered. come back and tell her what I wanted to do. I really want to do, anything else is a distraction. is spoof on detective movies, and many of the called my folks, and I said, “I’m switching majors.” It doesn’t mean that your life isn’t rich with many roles are caricatures. KB: What element of the design of Red Herring My father said something to me once that I’ve other wonderful things, but you have to bear are you most excited to see fully realized? never forgotten: he got very teary, and said, “One down. My meditation teacher used to say that KB: You additionally mentioned in the KPB: I always love seeing everything come of the things I envy you most in your life is that finding a deep spiritual connection is like finding presentation how designs can shift over the together onstage with actors, scenery, lighting you found your path really early, and stayed on a well. If you dig a little here, and dig a little there, course of the rehearsal process. What about the rehearsal process can inspire you to alter and sound. To me, that collaboration is the most it.” And it’s true: theater has been my bliss ever you’ll never strike water. But if you stay in one a design? exciting part. I have a few personal favorite design since I was 20. I haven’t always made a living off place and just keep digging, you’ll have a well. elements, but I don't want to give anything away!

10 Red Herring PlayNotes 11 Portland Stage’s Red Herring Portland Stage’s Red Herring CM: The play’s setting and time are very specific, of cultural propaganda after World War II saying, Interview with the Playwright: and the script is packed with cultural references “Okay, that’s all in the past, we brought your to the 1950s. Did you know much about this era men home, now get married, have babies, buy Michael Hollinger before writing, or did you find yourself doing lots things, and live the American Dream;” but soldiers by Clare McCormick of additional research? returning from warfare—and to a lesser degree, Clare McCormick: What initially sparked the idea MH: I knew a bit about the period through my their families—recognized that not all is bright and to write Red Herring? dramaturgical noir research, but I wound up straightforward. So, noir, like the Brothers Grimm, Michael Hollinger: I gave one of my playwriting having to do quite a bit more, including books on satisfied a need to acknowledge darkness and classes a timed writing assignment, to write a the period, books about the development of the elemental fears. scene that uses a particular set piece as an hydrogen bomb, books about Soviet espionage Obviously, Red Herring is more of a Roger Rabbit integral part of the scene. In my own scene, I in the U.S. in the 1940s and 1950s, fishing, or City of Angels—utilizing noir conventions to had an acerbic, Mrs. Kravitz-like landlady being etc. It was fun to populate the play with specific entertain, and using the trappings of this period as interrogated by a hard-nosed, Frank-like detective cultural references—e.g., “Uncle Miltie,” I Love metaphor for differing attitudes toward marriage. as they stood by a clawfoot tub from which Lucy, Dick Nixon, The Power of Positive Thinking, the bare legs of her dead tenant protruded. At Henri Cartier-Bresson, J. Edgar Hoover, Dinah CM: Do you relate to any of the characters of Red the end of the scene, the detective removed a Shore, etc.—to create a kind of “wallpaper of Herring in particular? glass, dipped it into the tub and tasted it, only to verisimilitude” inside this otherwise fable-like world. MH: No. Though I will reveal that James and discover that it was filled with vodka. Lynn are my and my wife’s middle names. After The landlady and detective stuck in my mind, and CM: The plot and structure of the play hearken nine years of marriage, I looked back on our back to 1950s noir and detective stories. Did you I began to sketch additional interrogations with younger selves as rather shiny and naïve, and grow up reading or watching these stories? Do you other tenants. I’d served as a dramaturg for a so these two characters in the play are probably have a favorite mystery novel or film from that era? production of a noir musical a few years earlier, exaggerated views of how I imagined us early on. MH: This was not a genre I’d spent much time with and had to acquaint myself with noir devices and before the noir musical I worked on; but the more I attributes, so this was kind of a fun experiment. A CM: What advice would you give to a burgeoning read and watched, the more I came to appreciate female detective emerged who was supposed to playwright? it. Noir has been so thoroughly exploited now— get married to her partner, the guy, but had bailed MH: Write a lot. Read and see a lot of plays. from Who Framed Roger Rabbit? to the musical at the altar. (My working title was Cold Feet, Revise with the crowbar first, and save the City of Angels to a PBS kids’ show featuring “Sam a punny nod to the bare legs.) But, as always sandpaper and varnish for later. Find any Spud, Par-Boiled Potato Detective”—that it’s happens with me at some point, I began to doubt way you can to put your work in front of an Michael Hollinger. lost many of its original teeth. But besides being this apparently frivolous exercise, wondering why audience—a reading in your living room, or on a exciting material—murders and mobsters and anyone (including myself) would be interested in the essential energies of the play I’m working on. dark night at a nearby theater; a self-produced underworlds—it satisfied a widespread need to this thing, and asked myself why I was writing it. I wound up cutting quite a few drafted scenes, production at your school; you learn new and look beneath shiny, day-world exteriors to see And I realized I didn’t care at all about murder; I including some of my favorites. (The corpse increasingly important things only when the work what’s corrupt and sordid beneath. There was a lot was interested in marriage, having been married even had a post-autopsy monologue!) Two entire is presented before other humans. for nine years at this point, and ready to say a few scenes were cut the night after our first public things about that institution. performance when the play premiered.

CM: How long did it take to write the script? What CM: At its heart, Red Herring is a “fable about did the thought-to-script process look like for you? marriage.” Why did you choose to set this play MH: I believe I was researching and sketching about lovers against the backdrop of the Cold War? from about 1996 to 1998, followed by readings MH: As noted above, I was interested in the and workshops of the play in 1998-1999. The noir aesthetic, and is most closely associated structure and doubling scheme was a real puzzle in film with the 1940s and early 1950s (though to solve—a feat of trial and error. I used up a lot it derived from a slightly older literary tradition). of napkins and the backs of envelopes trying to So, I worked hard to locate my action in a find the right sequence of scenes. particular week—settling on late October to The play I wrote just before Red Herring had only early November, 1952—and did quite a bit of a few characters, a single setting and mostly long, research to ground that week in terms of politics realistic scenes, so I was ready to experiment and pop culture. The Cold War, McCarthyism, with many settings, many characters, and short the hydrogen bomb, etc. all became useful scenes with punchy endings (some comic, some metaphors for marriage, allowing the period to suspenseful). I write my first draft by hand, to kind of refract the major themes of the play. make as much mess as possible, and try to find Incorruptable by Michael Hollinger at University of Maryland Balitomore County in 2012.

12 Red Herring PlayNotes 13 Portland Stage’s Red Herring Portland Stage’s Red Herring Meet the Cast: What Codeword Would You Use to Prove Your Identity? by Clare McCormick Name: Robin Payne Name: Dustin Tucker Character: Maggie Character: Frank

“Sugar.” That was my old nickname in Ginger Snap or Dust Bunny. Ginger Snap college. because by the second day of rehearsal the cast knows that I can’t be trusted around ANY sweets and like any good redhead, I have that fiery “snappy” temper. And I have lovingly been called Dust Bunny my entire career. So those would probably be the easiest codewords for others to know me by. But if I could choose anything it would clearly be Lance Glitter Turkey.

Name: Marcy McGuigan Name: Gary Littman Character: Mrs. Kravitz Character: Andrei

I was known as “The Little Drummer Girl” I made up my high school graduation quote: growing up. In High School our Jazz Band "We're all a figment of someone's demented played at all of the local Lions, Rotary and imagination and when he wakes up, we're Kiwanis Club Meetings. My Father was meatcake." 30 years later i think it still rings always asked if his Daughter was the Little true for me. Live life to the fullest for you Drummer Girl. never know what tomorrow may bring!

Name: Josh Odsess-Rubin Name: Katie Ailion Character: James Appel Character: Lynn McCarthy Groucho Marxist. And as far as explanations go, let’s just say that if I told you why, it Georgia Peach! Because I’m originally from wouldn’t be a secret anymore. Georgia.

14 Red Herring PlayNotes 15 The World of Red Herring The World of Red Herring Cold War Timeline by Clare McCormick The world had a collective sigh of relief in 1945, as many long years of fighting came to an end with the culmination of World War II. However, this peaceful moment could not and would not last: two years later, the United States entered into a decades-long cultural and political conflict with the Soviet Union. Tensions arose concerning the effects of America’s capitalism versus Soviet Communism, the race to further develop nuclear weaponry, and fierce competition to be the first to explore space.

This era came to be known as the Cold War, as there was no “heat”–direct military action between the two parties. However, as other conflicts erupted in different countries, resulting in events like the Vietnam War, the Korean War, and the Berlin Crisis, the United States and the Soviet Union backed opposite sides: this “fighting by proxy” only served to further escalate the tensions between the two powers. The following is a timeline of major events in American and Soviet history during this period. Paratroopers of the US 2nd Batallion, 173rd Airborne Brigade in the Vietnam War.

US troops in the Korean War. "Ivy Mike" explosion. Soviet technician working on Sputnik I. The Timeline:

1945: WWII comes to a formal end. Neil Armstrong walking on the Moon. Fall of the Berlin Wall.

1946: Winston Churchill coins the phrase “Iron Curtain,” referring to the boundary forming between 1961: President Kennedy terminates diplomatic relations with Cuba, sparking the Cuban Missile Crisis. Western-influenced European countries and the Eastern Soviet satellite states. The construction of the Berlin Wall begins, sealing off West and East Germany from each other. Soviets successfully launch the first human being to complete an orbit of the earth. 1948: French, US, and UK-controlled portions of Germany merge to form West Germany, dividing Berlin. Russians retaliate via the Berlin Blockade, cutting roads and rail lines and causing widespread 1965: The US sends 200,000 troops to Vietnam, escalating its involvement in the Vietnam War. starvation. US and UK airlift food to starving East Germans. 1969: American Neil Armstrong becomes the first human to set foot on the moon. 1949: The Soviet Union ends the Berlin Blockade and conducts their first successful nuclear weapons test in Kazakhstan. The US responds by announcing plans to develop a hydrogen bomb. 1972: In an attempt at de-escalation, U.S. President Nixon and Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev sign the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT I), prohibiting the production of nuclear weapons on both sides. 1950: The US announces new foreign policy of “containment,” seeking to prevent the spread of Communism. The Korean War begins, as the North invades the South. Joseph McCarthy begins 1975: The Vietnam War formally ends. Communist witch hunt in the US. 1979: Further nuclear negotiations (SALT II) are agreed upon, and signed by President Carter and 1952: The US tests its first nuclear fusion bomb in the Marshall Islands, generating a 25-mile radius blast. Premier Brezhnev; the US upholds these terms of agreement until 1986.

1953: Korean War ends. 1985: Mikhail Gorbachev becomes leader of the Soviet Union.

1957: Soviets launch Sputnik, the first satellite ever sent to space. 1987: President Reagan makes a speech in West Berlin, imploring the Soviet Union to bring peace to Europe, and famously states, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” 1958: The US launches its own satellite and President Eisenhower creates the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). 1989: The Berlin Wall is dismantled. Germany unites, and Soviet Communist governments in Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, and Romania fall, signaling the decline of the Soviet Union. 1960: Cuba, led by Fidel Castro, declares allegiance to the Soviet Union’s missions and policies. 1991: Seen by many as the ending of the formal Cold War.

16 Red Herring PlayNotes 17 The World of Red Herring The World of Red Herring Introduction to Communism McCarthyism & Communism by Katie Baskerville

In Red Herring, Lynn is concerned that her new inby CAmericalare McCormick fiancé may be a Communist. Communism is a Red Herring’s cast of eccentric characters offers Seeking to cement his position on the American political political ideology that was outlined by Karl Marx us an intimate (if exaggerated) glimpse into what stage, McCarthy became a household name in 1950, and Frederick Engels in the Communist Manifesto life was like in 1952: we’re very quickly introduced with his Lincoln Day speech, in which he revealed his in 1848. They defined it as “the doctrine of the to Lynn, who (in classic teeny-bopper fashion) is plans to snuff out what he saw as a massive Soviet conditions of the liberation of the proletariat.” sitting riveted to her TV set, boyfriend James by infiltration in the United States government: To understand this definition, it is important to her side, as her mother yammers on the phone to The State Department is infested with understand what the proletariat is. Marx and her Aunt Pidge. However, though this may seem Communists. I have here in my hand a list of Engels believed that society was divided into like a typical, nuclear familial scene, all is not as 205—a list of names that were made known two classes: those who owned capital, such it appears: Lynn’s father is, in fact, notoriously to the Secretary of State as being members of as businesses, land, or wealth, and those brutal senator Joseph McCarthy, and they’re the Communist Party and who nevertheless who worked for a wage, or the proletariat. The watching him eviscerate a suspected Communist are still working and shaping policy in the proletariat is defined as the class in society that Karl Marx & Frederick Engels. in a live, televised court hearing. And “nuclear,” State Department. relies solely on the sale of its labor for survival In response to this mistreatment, Marx and indeed – Lynn’s beau, James, is in a nervous and did not profit from any kind of capital. In more Engels posited that a new system of government sweat, as he is hiding the fact that he’s passing His claims shocked the nation, sparking a plain terms, the proletariat is the working class. and economics should be implemented: nuclear weapon information to the Soviets. series of hearings and a rash of newly-formed Communism. The first and most important step subcommittees, in order to address this newfound According to Marx and Engels, this unique class towards implementing this system is the abolition While Lynn and James were invented by problem. However, McCarthy was reluctant to divide began during the Industrial Revolution, of private property. Marx and Engels believed that playwright Michael Hollinger, the Soviet-despising reveal any further information, and his facts which began in England in the latter half of the all property should belong to the government and father that haunts their relationship was a very kept changing: in the following days, his number 18th century. The creation of factories and the the government should act within the interest of real figure: Joseph McCarthy, who served in jumped from 205 to 57, and then to 81. His new unbridled competition that existed in this the people. In this system, the goal is for there the Senate representing Wisconsin from 1947 source was later revealed to be from an FBI list intense industrial era began to increase the to be one class that evenly shares the means of to his passing in 1957, is a man whose legacy of government officials who had had “incidents of wealth disparity. Factory owners would continue production, which are owned and distributed by and name has gone down in history as being inefficiencies” of some sort–never explicitly stated to get wealthier and gain more control, while the the government. especially power-hungry, fiercely anti-Communist, to be Communist ones. Nevertheless, McCarthy workers were exploited for their time and effort. and quick to condemn others. A phrase that’s still pounced on anyone he considered weak, or a At the time that the Communist Manifesto was This concept has been attempted, but never in popular use is “McCarthyism,” a term used to threat, to advance his political gain. written, there were no workplace safety laws, fully implemented by any nation. In the process describe when someone makes a bold claim of minimum wages, or restrictions on the number of creating a Communist government, nations treason or national betrayal without giving proper While “McCarthyism” is often used in jest, and of hours that a person could work for a particular like China and the Soviet Union (the region that regard to evidence or fair processes of trial. Joe McCarthy’s blustering arguments have come company. is now Russia) never redistributed the means of to be seen as buffoonery through the lens of production to the people of their nations and kept McCarthy did have a wife and an infant daughter, historical context, it cannot be denied that his This new industrial economy created a new all of the wealth at the government level. This led Tierney, adopted in 1957, but his political accusations and trials carried grave, real-world problem for workers. In the past, people had to extreme famine and poverty among the people schemes and ventures kept him in Washington consequences. McCarthy targeted everyone trained to learn particular skills and crafts. They of these nations. Americans saw the way in which more often than Wisconsin. Having been elected from politicians to artists and filmmakers knew how to farm, do metalwork, or hand- this attempted communism affected the Soviet to the Senate after a long and decorated career (see pg. 37 McCarthyism & the Arts), often embroider clothing. These skills gave them the and Chinese peoples and fought back against in the Marine Corps, he quickly turned his focus ruining careers and lives. His accusations agency to leave their employment situation the ideology itself (See pg. 19 Communism & to detecting Communist infiltrators within the disproportionately targeted Jewish-Americans, and start their own businesses, such as farms, McCarthyism in America). American government and society at large, as leading to instances like the 1953 execution of smithies, or tailors’ shops. In the new industrial his experiences during and directly after World Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, American citizens capitalist system, they learned only a portion of War II made him extremely paranoid of growing accused of espionage. McCarthy also doggedly the skill that it took to make the whole product. Soviet power and its potential influences or harassed and outed politicians he believed to This partial training made it challenging for ramifications on American culture. McCarthy’s be homosexual, as he thought that the Soviets employees to start their own businesses with efforts are a neat summation of the Cold War would take advantage of their shame and secrecy the skills that they learned at a larger company. entirely: many tense, loaded interactions, both and blackmail them into committing treason. Under this new dynamic, supervisors had a direct and indirect, that attempted to squash the So, while Red Herring presents us with a comic, new power that made the working class more global spread of communism (see pg.18 Intro to light-hearted take on this dark period in American expendable in their eyes. Communism). history, it’s important to remember that all of its USA anti-Communist propoganda from 1947. jokes have a very serious grain of truth.

18 Red Herring PlayNotes 19 The World of Red Herring The World of Red Herring

The Race byfor Clare MNuclearcCormick Power Girls Just Wannaby Kayla M. Kauf mFightan Crime We encounter James, Red Herring’s idealistic more powerful H-bomb, or a “super bomb”: this A black woman? As a police officer? This may young physicist-turned-Soviet spy, in the midst hydrogen nuclear fusion bomb was developed seem less far-fetched today (even though of his mission to restore equilibrium between and detonated in November of 1952 in the numbers of female officers are still unjustly low… the political superpowers of the world in 1952. Marshall Islands (which we see in Red Herring, we’ll get to that later), but in 1952, the year Red Nuclear weaponry had just experienced its as James journeys there to witness this test). Herring takes place, this was a new sight. inception, and many were worried about the Accordingly, by 1955, the Soviet government implications that came with only one country had been able to duplicate the H-bomb and In 1867, in Selma, Alabama, the first black police having access to that kind of technology. At the detonate it in a show of power. officer was finally hired. In 1910, in Los Angeles, outset of the play, James is heard summarizing California, the first female police officer was finally this fear and explaining his reasons for spying The nuclear facet of the Cold War was a series hired. And in 1922, Margie Annette Hawkins Duty to his fiancé, Lynn: of events that seemed to crescendo without stop was hired as the first black female police officer Down there in the desert, we’re building a over the span of several decades. This fear of in Houston, Texas. Maggie, the detective in Red bomb. A super-bomb so powerful no nation “mutually assured destruction,” as coined by the Herring, had been working several years as an in the world should keep it to themselves, Kennedy administration, prompted both sides intelligent and experienced police officer by the even us. So I’ve been passing information to keep amassing more and more weapons, as time the play opens in 1952, only 30 years after International Women & Law Enforcement to the Russians so they can build one for American and Soviet forces feared that nuclear the first black female officer ever had been hired convention parade in 2017. themselves. […] The point is not to kill attack from either side would result in destruction in the United States. from departments that were discriminatory in anyone, the point is if only one man has a that neither country (nor the world) could come their workplace. All of this led to more inclusive gun, then everyone else is in danger. But if back from. With each country possessing over Breaking into the police force was incredibly hard practices in the police force. two men each have a gun, there’s a balance 30,000 nuclear weapons by the late 1960s, this for women due to sexist discrimination. This was of power, so we all stay safe. conflict and competition worried many citizens, especially true for women of color, who faced a In time, research showed that not only was and they wondered when (and how) the conflict boundary doubled by racism. When women were making the police force more inclusive a good Though one might raise reservations about would end. Anthropologist Charles H. Fairbanks, first let onto the force in small numbers, they idea, but also that women often outperformed James’s method, it cannot be denied that his Jr., summarized this period of escalation in the typically had to meet extremely high standards for their male counterparts. Women law enforcement concerns were valid: the Cold War, beginning following manner: “The strange result is that hiring, and then were restricted to women-specific officers receive fewer complaints, particularly with after the close of World War II in 1947, raised the activity of the other side, and not one’s own units or bureaus where they would primarily be allegations of rudeness and disrespect; women social, cultural, and political tensions between resources, plans, and motives, becomes the confined to clerical, juvenile, or vice work (mostly use significantly less force; women are less likely the US and the USSR to unprecedented heights, determinant of one’s behavior.” done in offices), and occasionally assigned to to physically struggle with arresting a suspect; sparking fears that this conflict would escalate guard duty. Women could only be promoted women rely less on authoritarian force; and are to the point of no return. The United States While political administrations shifted and within their women-specific units, and could not much less likely to ever fire their weapon while demonstrated the awful power they possessed evolved within both Nathans, and the arms be up for promotions against men or for any on duty. In fact, male officers are almost ten with the successful development of nuclear race was expanded on, complicated by, and position outside of their small unit. times more likely than female officers to receive weaponry via brutal attacks in the war, when influenced by satellite wars and global conflicts allegations of excessive force. Importantly, with bombs dropped on Nagasaki and Hiroshima outside of the American-Russian dichotomy, Slowly, and especially in the 1950s, women police brutality as a major concern in this country, wrought never-before-seen destruction and both sides eventually were able to reach a began to break into other areas of the police women are also better at defusing confrontations desolation, killing or irreparably harming period of de-escalation, or détente (see pg. force. Women pushed for the ability to compete before they get violent–or deadly. countless Japanese civilians (see pg. 32 A New 34.) However, despite peace talks and treaties with men for bigger promotions within the force and Most Cruel Bomb.) from the last several decades, nuclear threats and continued to create more opportunities Although the ability to perform well in the police and technological developments remain for women to advance. The small women-only force is not determined by gender, women still As Soviet forces took note of the deadly an issue that should remain in the national units were integrated into the larger police force, report discrimination, harassment, and negative potential of America’s arsenal of warheads, consciousness, despite our chronological and men and women were able to compete stereotyping in their jobs. In the United States, they pursued development of their own. With distance from the days of first atomic tests. for the same jobs. In 1956, the International women make up less than 13% of the police the help of a network of “atomic spies,” the As the world’s governments and their policies Association of Women Police formed and fought force–a portion that has not grown in decades. USSR was able to construct and detonate become more and more complex in our modern for women’s rights in the force. Legal struggles, Based on research that shows the obvious merit their first test atomic bomb in 1949, in present- age, we cannot afford to forget the very real including the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and the of having more female officers, perhaps police day Kazakhstan. The US gained information consequences that can come from international Equal Employment Opportunity Act in 1972, led forces in the United States could benefit from about this covert test during a military fly-over sentiments of distrust, conflict, and fear. to less discrimination in the hiring, recruiting, looking back to the time when gender equality of the area, when they detected the presence and promoting process and better working was first introduced to the force and use more of atomic particles in the air. In response, the conditions for all. Additionally, the Revenue firm tactics to recruit, hire, and promote people US announced the development of the much Sharing Act and Crime Control Act withheld funds with traditionally marginalized genders.

20 Red Herring PlayNotes 21 Red Herring In The Classroom Red Herring In The Classroom Post Show Activities 1952: Bert the Turtle & Checkers the Dog by Nolan Ellsworth & Celia Watson by Nolan Ellsworth 1. Joseph McCarthy is a real historical figure referenced inRed Herring (see pg. 19 Communism & Red Herring takes place in 1950s America, McCarthyism in America). In a short journal entry, describe why you think the playwright chose to include albeit one that has been partly fictionalized or McCarthy and his family in this play. What are some other plays in which biographical people are included? exaggerated. The play opens 1952, a year when gas was $0.20 a gallon and the microwave was 2. Read the timeline for the Cold War (see pg. 16 Cold War Timeline). In small groups, discuss the new. The United States only had 48 states (Alaska following questions: and Hawaii would not become states until 1959). a. Miscommunication occurs often in Red Herring. What are some different examples of Singin’ in the Rain was the movie to see, and Mr. miscommunication that occur in the play? Why might miscommunication be an especially Potato Head was the hottest new toy. As seen dangerous thing during the Cold War? in the play, 1952 included Joseph McCarthy’s b. How could the Cold War be seen as a metaphor for marriage in Red Herring? blacklisting of supposed Communists (see pg. 19 Communism & McCarthyism in America) and the 3. Comedies often employ stereotypes. What is a stereotype? How are the characters in Red first test of the hydrogen bomb. Herring stereotypical? How do they break stereotypes? Write a short argument for the pros and cons of stereotypes in comedies. Divide into pairs and assign one person as partner A and the other In 1952, one in every three homes had a as partner B. Partner A argues for the use of stereotypes in comedies, partner B argues against television, and the election of Dwight D. Bert the turtle. them. After five minutes, switch roles. Then open it up to the class for discussion. What are some Eisenhower that November was the first Also in 1952, one could often hear, “duck and arguments for or against stereotypes? In your opinion, are there certain things that should or should election ever televised for the American public. cover!” This phrase was as famous in classrooms not be seen as funny in comedies? Eisenhower, also known by his nickname “Ike,” led of the ’50s as “stop, drop, and roll” is today. Before a successful campaign with the slogan “I like Ike.” much was known publicly about the radioactive 4. What is the main conflict for each character in Red Herring? Create and illustrate a poster that Before the election, Americans had turned on their fallout that would result from nuclear war (see pg. features the main characters and how their conflicts intersect with one another. new TVs to watch Richard Nixon, Eisenhower’s 20 The Race for Nuclear Power,) the United States running mate, apologize for the inappropriate government used the “duck and cover” motto to 5. How do we solve a mystery? Create a visual map/flow chart of the events and clues that lead to the handling of funds during the campaign. Nixon prepare people for a nuclear attack. If anyone reveal and arrest of the murderer in Red Herring. Next, create your own flow chart for a fictional mystery appealed to his audience’s emotions by bringing saw a bright, blinding flash of light, citizens were that has to be solved. What clues would we need to discover along the way to lead us to the solution? up his dog, Checkers. The one campaign gift taught to duck down low and take cover under a he would keep was Checkers because, he said, desk or table, in case the light was from a nuclear “the kids, like all kids, love the dog.” The speech explosion. Students in schools practiced taking became known as “the Checkers speech,” and shelter under their desks, the way we practice despite his mishandling of funds, the public soon fire drills today.Duck and Cover, a cartoon voted Nixon into the Vice Presidency under starring a turtle named Bert, was commissioned Eisenhower as President. Nixon himself became by the Federal Civil Defense Administration to president a little over a decade later. educate children in bomb safety, though today the message feels disturbingly naive. Bert the Turtle instructs his audience to duck down low and cover themselves beneath a desk, clasping their hands over the back of their neck (the idea here being that they could avoid burning their skin). However, nuclear physicists now understand that hiding under a desk will not protect one from nuclear fallout in the slightest.

Duck and Cover illustrates the innocence of 1952: innocence in the face of global crisis. We watched cartoon turtles and heard about Nixon’s dog while bombs were being built. How does 1952 compare Richard Nixon and hsi dog, Checkers. to today? Perhaps our own 2018 will one day seem as hopelessly naive, as ill-prepared for a Joseph McCarthy and family. frightening future, as 1952.

22 Red Herring PlayNotes 23 Red Herring In The Classroom Red Herring In The Classroom convicted. According to the Innocence Project, Forensics! For Kids! one of several organizations working to exonerate by Kayla M. Kaufman the unfairly convicted through DNA testing and A body is found, pulled up from the harbor. reform the criminal justice system, wrongful Foul play? Or a drowned fisherman? convictions have happened for an assortment Detectives and experts descend on the scene. of reasons. Those reasons include incentivized In the story of Red Herring, Maggie concludes informants, inadequate defense, misapplication her seven years spent chasing a particularly of forensic science, government misconduct, unscrupulous mass murderer by solving the false confessions or admissions, and eyewitness crime on the waterfront, using her intelligence, misidentification. Many wrongfully convicted wit, and years of experience. Many steps people have been acquitted of their crimes taken to solve this mystery fall under the through current forensic technology. From the cover of CSI Expert. umbrella of forensic science, the application of science to criminal and civil laws.

First thing’s first: the crime scene is secured. Forensics investigators, scientists, specialists, The police arrive and check if any witnesses or and justice experts do excellent work to solve victims need medical attention. The detective A forensics team passes the crime tape. crimes by providing scientific evidence that appears on the crime scene to confirm the report can lead to fairness in the eye of the law. Want of a serious crime. Like Maggie in Red Herring, that might be related to the crime, like a murder to learn more about forensics, or give it a try the detective might arrive at the harbor crime weapon. All kinds of small details, from lipstick yourself? Check out these books from your local scene to take a look at a dead body that has on a glass to gum spit in a wrapper to a bit of dog library or buy them from a local bookstore, great been pulled out of the water. She first meets with fur, could help solve the crime. for at home or in a classroom: any witnesses in order to identify the body and try to determine what occurred. The detective The goal for the forensics team at the scene of CSI Expert!: Forensic Science for Kids From the cover of Detective Science. gathers anecdotal evidence by speaking with the crime is to collect any physical evidence that by Karen Schulz people who may have witnessed the crime or may be used for the purposes of law. Any of With more than 25 in-depth activities ranging the aftermath and people who might be related this may be used as scientific evidence to offer from fingerprinting, to evidence collection, to to the crime in any adjacent way. If the situation in court through scientific testimony, which may blood-stain identification, this book is loaded is not crystal clear immediately, the forensics lead to crimes being solved and people being with exciting insight into forensics from new muscle of the police force is flexed. declared guilty or innocent. technology to career tracks.

The forensics team arrives. These crime scene Later, the same forensics team, or often a group Detective Science: 40 Crime-Solving, Case- investigators survey the space that the detective of different forensics experts, will examine Breaking, Crook-Catching Activities for Kids has confirmed as a crime scene and find clues these samples collected from the crime scene. by Jim Wiese that might lead to solving the case. They first take Some samples are analyzed in a laboratory by Think like a detective, and solve 40 different time to deeply observe the scene, taking notes specialists. For example, an expert might lift the criminal cases, all included in this fun book! of their observations. Next, these investigators, fingerprint from a gun left at the crime scene, From the cover of Crime Scene Investigators. or sometimes hired crime photographers, take and then run the fingerprint against millions in a Crime Scene Investigations: Real-Life Science photos of the scene from many different views, database to see if it might match with someone Activities for the Elementary Grades making sure to get good shots of the body, on file. If other body samples, such as hair, by Pam Walker if there is one, before it is removed. Some of were left behind, a deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) Science lovers, rejoice in this book offering the investigators may also sketch the scene, expert could run the sample against millions in 60 lessons and activity sheets, perfect for a including important objects found at the scene. a separate DNA database. Other specialists science classroom. Finally, in contrast to the detective who gathers focus on the victim’s body to correctly identify the anecdotal evidence, the crime scene investigators person, as well as the cause and time of death. The Lil Super Snoopers Club 2nd Edition: Kid's search for and gather hard evidence, collecting Forensic Science Detectives samples around the scene of the crime that Since much of the technology used by forensics by Steve P. Jefferson might offer insight into the crime: biological or experts today is brand new, many older cases Four young girls living in the heart of Los Angeles trace evidence (blood, hair, etc.), print evidence did not get the scientific attention needed and start their own detective agency, using forensic (anything that might have fingerprints, palm instead indicted plenty of innocent people. Today, science to solve crimes. This mystery novel prints, foot prints), digital evidence (cell phone many forensics experts work in the field of justice series sounds hard to put down! From the cover of Lil Super Snoopers. records, internet logs), and any other objects to free people in prison who were wrongfully

24 Red Herring PlayNotes 25 Red Herring In The Classroom Red Herring In The Classroom Winslow Homer & The Herring Net Glossary by elia atson C W by Clare McCormick, Nolan Ellsworth, & Celia Watson Red Herring opens with a billboard featuring Adlai Stevenson: A Democrat who ran for president Winslow Homer's painting The Herring Net in 1952 but lost to Republican Dwight Eisenhower. (1885), used for an advertisement for the herring company "Ogilby's." The painting depicts two Anaphylactic shock: An extreme allergic reaction fishermen hauling in a line of catch in a rocking, that can cause death if not treated promptly. brooding sea. Like many of Homer's paintings, The Herring Net captures the raw energy, threat, “Bali H’ai”: A song from the musical South and life of nature, particularly of the ocean. Who Pacific, which refers to a fictional volcanic island, was Winslow Homer and what inspired his work? representing an unreachable paradise. Winslow Homer's The Herring Net. Why might The Herring Net be featured in Red Herring? Let's find out. the glimmer on the surface of the water and Beantown: A nickname for Boston, MA, due to the the fish, creates an intimate portrayal of a city’s signature dish: Boston baked beans. Boston baked beans. Winslow Homer (1836-1910) is considered to stimulating moment at sea. be one of the most prominent American painters “Calling the kettle black”: This phrase, taken from Espionage: The practice of governments using of the 19th century. Homer's artistic career The position of this dramatic painting in an the idiom “the pot calling the kettle black,” is used spies and intelligence networks in order to gain emerged at age 19 when he apprenticed at a otherwise comedic play is an intentional yet to point out hypocrisy. information about other countries. lithographic firm in Boston, his birthplace. He possibly ironic choice. The Art Institute of began submitting his drawings to magazines such Chicago, where the painting is held, comments Carte blanche: French for “white card,” meaning Ethel Merman (1908-1984): An American singer as Harper's Weekly, and moved to New York that "Homer’s isolation of these two figures permission to say or do whatever one wishes. and actress, known for her musical comedy roles City in 1859 to be a freelance illustrator. Homer underscores the monumentality of their task: and work on Broadway. became known for his drawings submitted to the elemental struggle against a sea that both COD: “Cash on delivery,” a type of transaction Harper's during the Civil War, and he frequently nurtures and deprives." The sense of drama, where the customer pays for a shipped product FDR (1882-1945): Franklin Delano Roosevelt, focused on everyday camp scenes versus war- stake, and movement in the painting are evoked upon its arrival. also known as FDR, was the 32nd President of torn images. Over the years, Homer's interest by the crisp yet flowing brushstrokes. Art writer the United States. An avid Democrat, Roosevelt’s shifted to watercolor and oil paintings, capturing Scott Greene notes that in The Herring Net, Cold War: The period of time between the end legacy lies in his New Deal and America’s support contemporary life in a realistic and loose way "two fishermen plumb the depths for survival, of WWII and the fall of the Soviet Union, during of the Allied forces during WWII. that was considered original and progressive, bound by necessity in a risky and carefully which tension between the United States and according to the Portland Museum of Art. choreographed venture." Perhaps the sense of the Soviet Union arose due to factors including Femme fatale: A stereotypical female character Homer's career took a turning point in 1881 risk in this painting can be seen as a nod to the the spread of Communism, the race to develop who uses her powers of persuasion and when he suddenly went to England and lived in peril in Red Herring; or, more likely, it is a stark nuclear weapons, and competitive space seduction to lure male characters, inevitably an isolated fishing port called Cullercoats, near comparison between a true, serious battle of fate exploration. putting them in dangerous situations. Newcastle. Homer was inspired by the coastal versus a ridiculous, exaggerated sense of threat town and painted the everyday toils of fishermen found in the comedy. Communism: A social and political theory that Fission bomb: A weapon of mass destruction, and women that lived in the village. Upon proposes an uprising of working class people and also known as an atomic bomb, that can destroy returning to the United States in 1884, he moved Theatrical reasons aside, Winslow Homer remains a subsequent restructuring of society, resulting in entire cities with massive waves of energy, fire, to a studio in Prouts Neck, a peninsula located in one of the most famous painters associated with a societal system where all people are equal, no and radiation caused by splitting an atom’s Scarborough and only 12 miles south of Portland. Maine, whose legacy can be tangibly felt today. social classes exist, and goods and services are nucleus. Atomic bombs have been used as His pieces are on display in galleries across the distributed equally. weapons of war twice in history. Homer's aesthetic shifted significantly in country, and his studio in Prouts Neck, where mood and theme as his focus turned towards Homer worked and lived up until his death, “Commie”: A derogatory term for people who Fromage: French for “cheese.” capturing the powerful, elemental forces of became a National Landmark in 1966. In 2006, practice or believe in Communism. nature and its life-or-death situations imposed the Portland Museum of Art bought the Winslow on humans. Homer created several famous Homer Studio and restored it, opening up to the Confession: A Catholic sacrament where seascapes surrounding these themes, including public for tours in 2012. Whether connecting Catholics confess their sins to their priest, Weatherbeaten (1894), on display at the with Homer's art in a gallery, in his Studio, or on seeking forgiveness and spiritual cleansing. Portland Museum of Art. Homer is known the shore, any resident or visitor of Maine can for his skill in crafting realistic, awe-inspiring appreciate Homer's skillful capture of an awe- Dandy: An English term referring to vain men who waves; The Herring Net is just one example of inspiring, rocky coast that defines much of the dress in fancy clothing. humans battling against the immense force of identity and beauty of this state. Fromage, or cheese. the sea. The contrast of light and dark tones,

26 Red Herring PlayNotes 27 Red Herring In The Classroom Red Herring In The Classroom Red Menace: Also known as the “Red Scare,” this term refers to America’s cultural fear of Communism and its potential effects on our society.

Senate Internal Security Subcommittee: This subcommittee, founded in 1951 and running until 1977, was established to study and detect subversion, especially of the alleged Communist sort, in America.

Soviet: The name for an individual from the Soviet Union (1922-1991).

Stenographer: A person who is employed to Depiction of Hermes (Mercury) in the painting Mercury and Paris by Donato Creti in 1745. A Beatles LP. transcribe spoken words. Fusion bomb: A hypothetical weapon of mass J. Edgar Hoover (1895-1972): The first Director LP: Abbreviation for “long play,” referring to True Detective: A serial publication of crime and destruction with the same blast and radiation of the FBI. His legacy includes expanding 30+ minutes of songs that have been stored mystery short stories, published from 1924 to 1971. effects of a fission bomb which would instead the FBI into a powerhouse of investigative on vinyl records. gain energy from combining bomb atoms. force, modernizing forensic technologies, and V-J Day: The term for the official dates that signify establishing a centralized fingerprint file. Mercury dimes: US dimes which depict the face Japan’s surrender in World War II, effectively G-Man: A slang word, short for “government of Libertas, the goddess of liberty. However, ending the war. man,” used to describe special agents that work Joseph McCarthy (1908-1957): A U.S. Senator people mistook Libertas for Mercury, the Roman for the United States FBI. whose famous political career was marked by god of finance and communication. Winslow Homer (1836-1910): A painter from New his relentless search to weed out any suspected England, best known for his oil and watercolor Gulag: One of many forced labor camps Communists in the government, using scare Microfilm:A reel or sheet of film that contains paintings that depicted maritime scenes. His established by the Soviet Union and operated tactics, harassment, and personal threats to photos or documents that have been compressed painting The Herring Net is featured in Red Herring. between 1930 and 1955; occupants often were control others. to about 1/25th of their original size. worked to death. Juvenile Aid: A subsidiary within cities’ police Moby Dick: Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, is a novel Hermes (Mercury): A god in Greek mythology with departments and/or courthouses, dedicated by Herman Melville, narrated by a sailor named a primary role as messenger of the gods, and also to investigating crimes committed by and or Ishmael, who tells the story of a ship captain in known as the “divine trickster.” Hermes is known against children. search of revenge upon Moby Dick, a whale who by the name Mercury in Roman mythology. bit off his leg. Kippers: Herring fish that have been split and “I Like Ike”: A phrase used by supporters of preserved by salting or pickling. Mormons: Christians who belong to The Church President Dwight Eisenhower; “Ike” was a of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, a branch of nickname for “Dwight.” Christianity founded by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the early 1800s.

New Deal: A series of legislative acts and agencies put into place by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to help the United States recover from the strains of the Great Depression.

Ogden Nash (1902-1971): In Red Herring, the characters misattribute “The Pelican” to American poet Nash, but the poem was actually written by poet Dixon Lanier Merritt.

Quaker: Members of a sect of Christianity known A Lesbian Quaker Wedding at the as the Religious Society of Friends, which was Frenchay Meeting House founded as part of a cultural backlash to the I Like Ike Advertisement. Kippers. establishment of the Church of England.

28 Red Herring PlayNotes 29 Red Herring Digging Deeper Red Herring Digging Deeper What is a Red Herring? Noir & Its Influence on American Culture by lare c ormick by Clare McCormick C M C Every detective story, from Arthur Conan Doyle’s If you know your French, you’ll remember that The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes to Agatha “noir” means “black.” In American pop culture, “noir” Christie’s Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot stories, is a term that has come to be synonymous with is resplendent with twists and turns that (if well- mystery and crime: its first appearance in the public executed) leave their readers guessing until the vernacular came with the emergence of film noir, last page of the book. These false leads, phony meaning black or dark filmography. This definition signposts, and misdirections are a huge part of is twofold, as these films, which were made in what makes the story exciting: if we find out who the 1940s and 1950s and influenced by German the murderer is, why would we keep reading? Expressionist art, were primarily black and white; the content of these films was also known for being Michael Hollinger’s Red Herring is a play that takes especially moody, melodramatic, and gritty, with us on a turbulent ride, as the audience unravels A red herring. experimental angles and much chiaroscuro (strong Still from Shadow of a Doubt. the murders, mysteries, and mishaps of the story contrast created with with shadows and lights). in real time along with its characters. Things are Traditionally, a real red herring is the same as an Lattimer’s 1930s series of Detective Bill Crane not exactly as they seem because the playwright Ogilby’s kipper: it is a strong-smelling, smoked Often, noir films revolve around the trifecta novels, whose titular protagonist is haunted by has built in many moments in the script that leave and salted herring fish, which turns a brownish-red of crime and punishment, corruption, and demons and self-medicates with alcohol as he us pointing our fingers at the wrong perp. These color after going through its curing process. While seduction, coupled with plenty of mystery pursues various perpetrators. Noir figures are misleading tactics are referred to in the film and it has been enjoyed as a snack since at least and misleading moments. Famous examples never clearly-cut: there’s good and bad (or at literary worlds as “red herrings,” which is where the mid-13th century, it did not come to have its include Alfred Hitchcock’s Shadow of a Doubt, least a heart-rending backstory) in everybody’s Hollinger’s play got its name. modern meaning until the early 19th century. In an featuring a “he-knows-she-knows” situation narrative. article criticizing the English press for its practices with a murderous uncle and a suspicious niece, What is a red herring, and how do they work? At of misleading and false reporting, journalist William and Carol Reed’s The Third Man, where a Though we mainly associate noir with mid- its base, a red herring is an intentionally confusing Cobbett compared the newspaper’s tactics to a seemingly accidental death reveals itself to be century fiction and film, we can see its influence or false act or statement, built into a story, that personal anecdote. Once, on a hunt, Cobbett used a possible murder. In the nearly 70 years since across many decades (and even in today’s makes the reader or audience prematurely come pungent red herrings to distract the hounds that its inception, however, film connoisseurs have novels and films). 1974’s Chinatown, featuring to the wrong conclusion. When used effectively, were chasing a rabbit. According to Cobbett, once struggled to pin down an exact definition: what Jack Nicholson, is the story of a Los Angeles they keep us second-guessing, and make the story the dogs smelled the fish, the rabbit’s trail “became makes a noir film different from a straight-up cop private eye whose detective work carries many more exciting as we work to figure out exactly cold as a stone,” and the dogs were successfully drama, or a love triangle, or a Hitchcock thriller? noir stereotypes and hallmarks. 1982’s Blade what’s going on. This literary device immerses us misdirected. Despite its intangible nature, film analyst Eddie Runner features filmography that pays tribute in the experience of the mystery, making us feel as Muller offers up a pretty accurate explanation: to dramatic noir angles and scene structures, though we, too, are detectives. While the verity of Cobbett’s story remains If a private eye is hired by an old geezer to with many shots of Harrison Ford stalking alone uncertain, the phrase quickly entered public usage, prove his wife’s cheating on him and the through the rain as he tracks people down. and as 19th-century crime novels became popular, shamus discovers long-buried family secrets The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, published in authors and readers alike used the term “red and solves a couple of murders before 2005, is steeped in neo-noir as its protagonists, herring” to describe the moments in these novels returning to his lonely office – that’s detective burdened with emotional baggage, unfold that purposely misled them, just like Cobbett’s fiction. If the same private eye gets seduced mysteries and seek revenge. dogs. The phrase is still within cultural, popular by the geezer’s wife, kills the old coot for imagination. In Agatha Christie’s And Then There her, gets double-crossed by his lover and Michael Hollinger’s 2001 play Red Herring often Were None (1939), guests on an island are ends up shot to death by his old partner from seems as though it’s too funny to be noir: it’s full murdered, one by one, in ways that reflect the folk the police force–I can say with complete of physical comedy and gut-busting one-liners. poem “Ten Little Indians”: “Four little Indian boys assurance: you are wallowing in NOIR. However, there’s depth and shadow to it, too: going out to sea; / A red herring swallowed one each character is carrying the burden of secrets, and then there were three.” Dan Brown’s 2003 In fiction, noir functions similarly: the stories pain, and loneliness, and struggle to balance conspiracy novel The Da Vinci Code features a are often crime-adjacent, and share a lot of the their emotions as the play’s plot thickens and misleading character named Bishop Aringarosa, same characteristics as hard-boiled detective twists. So, while at times we see this as more which is a loose Italian translation of “red herring.” novels. Its main characters, are sometimes of a “screwball” piece, we would be safe in And, of course, Michael Hollinger’s Red Herring detectives, but more often than not they are saying that it comfortably straddles the gray area continues this literary tradition, delightfully throwing gangsters, criminals, or victims of various between noir’s black and white. us off its scent as often as it can. crimes, haunted by personal and/or political From the cover of Then There Were None. problems. A famous example lies in Jonathan

30 Red Herring PlayNotes 31 Red Herring Digging Deeper Red Herring Digging Deeper down to earth after the shockwave has passed, A New and Most Cruel Bomb poured over the cities. These bombs burnt 70% by Katie Baskerville of all buildings in Hiroshima. In addition to the Red Herring is set in 1952, seven years after Tokyo that had a population of about 350,000. estimated 140,000 deaths in the city by the end America became the only country in history to On August 6, 1945, a bomb, known as “Little of 1945, rates of cancer and chronic disease deploy an atomic bomb (or A-bomb). For most Boy,” was dropped on this city; its explosion was increased among the survivors. In Hiroshima, characters in the story, the use of the A-bomb equal to that of 12,000-15,000 tons of TNT. The 90% of physicians or nurses were killed or injured was seen as a necessary evil to end World War explosion destroyed five square miles of the city, beyond their ability to practice medicine and 42 II. For James, as a physicist and a spy, this event wiping out 90% of the population. While 80,000 of 45 hospitals in the city were unable to function. served as a warning for what was to come: the people were immediately killed, tens of thousands This lack of medical personnel happened while development of the hydrogen bomb (or H-bomb). would die later due to injuries and illnesses 70% of surviving victims suffered from combined The primary difference between an atomic bomb related to radiation exposure. injuries, including severe burns. According to and an H-bomb as outlined in the play is that the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear atomic bombs utilize fission, or the splitting of Three days later, because the Japanese had not Weapons, “All the dedicated burn beds around atoms, while hydrogen bombs utilize fusion or announced their official surrender, the United the world would be insufficient to care for the the combining of atomic nuclei to produce their States dropped another A-bomb on Nagasaki. survivors of a single nuclear bomb on any city.” explosive energy. Fission is the same process This bomb, known as “Fat Man,” weighed nearly Many of the first responders who entered the used in nuclear power plants, while fusion is the 1000 tons more than the bomb dropped on cities also died from the radiation. same process that stars use to produce their Hiroshima. The topography of the region in which energy. The H-bomb mentioned in the play can Nagasaki is located is covered in mountains and There was a lasting impact beyond 1945 for be up to 1000 times more powerful than the narrow valleys, so the impact of the bomb was many of the survivors. In the 1950s, survivors Survivors of Japanese bombings fighting for atomic bomb. In November 1952 (the time of Red lessened, although still devastating. The bomb began to suffer from instances of blood, thyroid, nuclear abolition. Herring), an H-bomb was tested whose explosion decimated 2.6 square miles of the city and killed breast, lung, and other cancers at significantly was 450 times the magnitude of the bomb 40,000 people instantly. This prompted Japan’s increased rates due to the high exposure to or (ICBM). Andrei Lankov, a professor of Korean dropped on Nagasaki. Emperor Hirohito to announce his unconditional radiation. Women who were pregnant at the time studies at Kookmin University in Seoul, has surrender on August 15, 1945, referencing the of the bombings experienced high infant mortality stated that "Such a device could evaporate the The impact of nuclear weapons is something devastating power of a “new and most cruel rates as well as increased instances of intellectual entire city of New York completely –no one would that is glossed over even still in classrooms. In bomb.” Americans celebrated this day as “Victory disabilities and early-childhood cancer. stay alive.” In Hiroshima, there stands a ten-foot order to contextualize the fear that James has in Japan” Day or “V-J Day.” high clock tower that marks two separate days: regarding the H-bomb in the play, it is important Here is the true account of Nagasaki survivor the first clock counts the amount of days since to understand the true devastation caused by Despite this victory, it is important to question Yasujiro Tanaka: the first A-bomb was dropped on Hiroshima in the two A-bombs dropped in August of 1945. the cost. At the time that the bombs were Thankfully, I survived. But since that day, 1945; the other marks how many days since Two civilian cities with no military connections dropped, the temperatures on the ground mysterious scabs began to form all over my the latest nuclear test anywhere in the world. At were targeted by the United States for this reached 4,000°C (or 7,232°F) and radioactive body. I lost hearing in my left ear, probably the time this article was written, the latter clock attack, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Hiroshima was rain, or the radioactive remnants from the bomb due to the air blast. More than a decade after indicated that it had been only 164 days since the a manufacturing center about 500 miles from that remained in the atmosphere that come the bombing, my mother began to notice latest nuclear test, which had been conducted by glass shards growing out of her skin – debris North Korea. from the day of the bombing, presumably. My younger sister suffers from chronic muscle There is a philosophical question that arises with cramps to this day, on top of kidney issues these weapons of mass destruction: should any that has her on dialysis three times a week. nation or individual be able to harness that kind ‘What did I do to the Americans?’ she would of power? In Red Herring, the argument is that often say. ‘Why did they do this to me?’ everyone should have access to this weaponry so that no one nation would utilize that power Unfortunately, despite these devastating due to mutually assured destruction. This was the consequences, the threat of nuclear war has logic of the Cold War, and what kept the US and unfortunately not been entirely eliminated. Russia from ending the world with nuclear war. According to an Al-Jazeera article from Nevertheless, the only true way to ensure that September 2017, North Korea’s nuclear test of no city will have to endure what Hiroshima and that month was estimated to have been 10 times Nagasaki have had to endure is for every nation stronger than their test from 2016. The size of in the world to move towards the disarmament of an H-bomb is the largest threat here because it all nuclear weapons (see pg. 34 The Argument for De-Escalation.) The atomic cloud over Hiroshima. could fit onto an intercontinental ballistic missile,

32 Red Herring PlayNotes 33 Red Herring Digging Deeper Red Herring Digging Deeper Lastly, this assumes that the defending nation Additionally, that commander would always The Argument for De-Escalation would either possess nuclear weapons or be care about the survival of their citizens first and by Kayla M. Kaufman in an alliance with another nation with nuclear foremost. Avoiding nuclear war completely rests JAMES Down there in the desert, we’re Since the original arms race to affirm the threat of weapons, whereas many nations are without any in the hands of commanders whom mutually building a bomb. A super-bomb, so powerful mutually assured destruction, nine nations now ties to nuclear weaponry at all. assured destruction theorists assume are no nation in the world should keep it to possess a total of over 15,000 nuclear weapons. flawlessly logical and intelligent, ignoring the themselves, even us. So, I’ve been passing Approximately 13,800 are owned by the United The second changeable assumption is that the possibility of poor decision making. This fails information to the Russians so they can build States and Russia alone, and the two countries attacking country would be unable to defend entirely to take into account that even with a one for themselves. maintain about 1,800 of those weapons at high- itself, thus assuring that if they launch an attack level-headed, logical person making decisions LYNN I thought they already had the Bomb. alert status, ready to be used at any moment. that demolishes one country, the result would that impact the world, human judgment has faults. JAMES The atom bomb’s only a fission bomb– Almost all of these weapons are many times be that their country would also be demolished. neutrons splitting other atoms. But the Super is more destructive than those used by the United This assumes that countries would never be In the end, mutually assured destruction leaves a fusion bomb–neutrons joining other atoms. States on Japan in 1945 (see pg. 32 A New and able to develop strong enough fallout shelters of worldwide devastation at the mercy of several LYNN So this one will kill people deader than Most Cruel Bomb). Not only can one of these sufficient capacity to defend their populations, untrustworthy variables. the other? weapons wipe out hundreds of thousands of nor would anyone be able to develop any sort JAMES The point is not to kill anyone, people in one detonation, but the blast, heat, and of protective anti-nuclear technology. However, The flaws in the mutually assured destruction the point–if only one man has a gun, then radiation caused by the use of these weapons can if any of these defensive mechanisms were theory, the primary argument for holding any everyone else is in danger. But if two men cause further problems, including far-spreading to be developed, an attacking country could nuclear weapons at all, should be enough to each have a gun, there’s a balance of power, climate disruption, agricultural destruction, famine, theoretically attack without worry that they would seriously consider de-escalation. This means so we all stay safe. devastating health consequences, and many be destroyed because the defenses are in place. the complete abolition of nuclear weapons, LYNN Unless they both decide to shoot us. deeper and farther-reaching problems. If more and a complete and unconditional ban from Red Herring, by Michael Hollinger than one weapon is detonated, as the idea for The next changeable assumption is that of perfect further development or creation of weapons mutually assured destruction would suppose, detection, or that the defending nation would be of mass destruction. In addition, all countries In this conversation between James and Lynn millions would perish immediately, with billions able to detect an attack without any possibility with nuclear weapons must destroy them safely in Red Herring, James explains his reasoning feeling the effects for incalculable years to come. of error. Many countries have early-warning and irrevocably eliminate their nuclear weapon for passing on information about the bomb the detection systems in place that would let them program. The possibilities for malfunctioning United States is building to the Russians. He Relying on the mutually assured destruction know if another country had launched nuclear technology or flaws in human judgment offer believes in the argument for mutually assured theory, the United States and many other countries weapons in their direction, which would allow the room for much fatal error. But additionally, destruction, which will be explained shortly. Lynn with nuclear weapons publicly say they plan to defending country to launch weapons in return. humanitarian, security, environmental, and poses a simple, yet very astute, observation on never use the weapons, and only keep them as However, these systems have been proven to economic risks, ranging from mass death to why this might not be the best military strategy: deterrents from other countries’ use. However, show false alarms, such as the case of the 1983 climate destruction to the high costs of keeping one argument, among many, that de-escalation of the theory of mutually assured destruction Soviet nuclear false alarm incident where a Soviet an arsenal at all, are all factors that should play nuclear arms is the best way to go. leaves worldwide devastation at the mercy of early-detection system showed the launch of into the decision to de-escalate across the world. several untrustworthy variables, or changeable several U.S. intercontinental nuclear weapons. In James’s view, and in the view of many military assumptions: second-strike capacity, inability to Luckily, Stanislav Yevgrafovich Petrov, an officer officials across the world, the strategy of mutually defend, perfect detection, and perfect rationality. of the Soviet Air Defense Forces, identified this assured destruction has been the best choice as a false alarm. Had he not, the retaliation to this since the invention of bombs that can wipe out The changeable assumption of second-strike false alarm could have led countries into full-scale huge populations (see pg. 20 The Race for Nuclear capacity assumes that a first strike would not nuclear war. Additionally, the assumption of perfect Power). During the time of this play, the United affect the ability of the defending nation to strike detection suggests that nuclear weapons would States and Russia were developing and testing back, nor would the defending nation have any never be able to be camouflaged, smuggled, bigger and more destructive weapons than had ever other factors preventing their ability to strike. or unexpectedly launched at close range, and been seen. With these massive weapons, many, This is the crux of mutually assured destruction: additionally that these alert systems could perfectly like James, thought that each side needed the if one nation strikes, the other will strike back. identify which nation had launched the weapon in same capabilities of mass destruction so both sides However, this assumes the first strike would not order to know precisely where to retaliate. would know the use of their weapons would mean be a decapitation strike, or a strike that takes annihilation of both the attacker and the defender. out the leadership or command and control of The last, and perhaps most changeable In this case, the other side would be able to retaliate the defending country. If a decapitation strike assumption, is perfect rationality. This assumes with the same capacity. The idea of mutually were to occur, the ability to launch a response that, no irrationality at any level would ever assured destruction is that the threat of the mass attack would fall into disarray. Additionally, a first occur, especially in the hands of the commander destruction of both countries would deter either strike could incapacitate the defending nation by of an arsenal of nuclear weapons. That means country from attacking at all, assured by matching striking their own defense weapon arsenal, again no commander of a nuclear arsenal would ever Protesters at StandUp2TrumpUK Rally to the arms that both sides had developed. making a response attack much more difficult. alter the launch decision process or strike first. Rromote De-escalation in August 2017

34 Red Herring PlayNotes 35 Red Herring Digging Deeper Red Herring Digging Deeper Richard Nixon, would testify that to have a Jewish and ethnic identities are more acceptable than others surname, especially to have taken an anglicized name is a form of violence. Many Jewish people had their Anti-Semitismby Kati &e Bask theerville Red Scare publicly and have an ancestral Jewish surname, was careers and relationships ruined, and in the case of In Red Herring, Mrs. McCarthy, wife of Joseph War II, Nazism and anti-Semitic sentiment were suspicious. the Rosenbergs lives were lost partially due to anti- McCarthy and mother to Lynn, is notably disturbed growing throughout Europe. American Jewish people Semitism during this tim. In order to combat verbal, by the idea that James might be Jewish, so much put pressure on the US government to join the war and In Red Herring, the characters make light of the political, and physical violence against the Jewish so that Lynn lies about his religion to appease her. intervene in this violence against European Jewish anti-Semitism of the time. Lynn McCarthy’s mother community, it is critical that we examine the topic During McCarthyism, named for Joseph McCarthy populations. Having the platform of the entertainment becomes irrationally and exuberantly relieved that her of anti-Semitism within all media. Especially within and also known as the Red Scare, from 1946 to industry, one of the methods that Jewish-Americans daughter was not marrying a Jewish man. However, comedies, it is important to ensure that the jokes are the early 1960s, American citizens were arrested used to lobby the government was pro-Soviet Union anti-Semitism, xenophobia, and racism are not not at the expense of Jewish people, but rather the and interrogated in relation to their political beliefs. films. These movies were created to encourage the US laughing matters. The rhetoric that certain religious anti-Semitic individual(s) within the play. Citizens who were suspected to be sympathetic to ally with the Soviet Union against Germany. to the Soviet Union or Communism or who may have had “radical” political views, were investigated, Immediately following WWII, the era of McCarthyism McCarthyismby Katie Bask &ervill thee Arts arrested, imprisoned, fined, fired from their jobs, and began, when politicians such as Representative Following World War II, the House Un-American Many people attempted to avoid self-incrimination “blacklisted,” a term which means being disallowed John Rankin decided that these films were not a Activities Committee (HUAC) conducted a series under the Fifth Amendment, but “pleading the to work in their chosen fields. Often times, this humanitarian effort, but pro-Communist propaganda. of investigations into alleged Communist activity in Fifth” created an impression that they were guilty investigation led to Americans not only losing their Representative John Rankin was a member of the Ku the US (see pg. 19 Communism & McCarthyism of a crime. This resulted in the blacklisting of careers, but also their friends and families. Joseph Klux Klan and was known for his blatant antisemitism in America.) During this time, an atmosphere of almost all of the people who were called to testify. McCarthy, the US Senator who spearheaded the towards other members of Congress. He and other intimidation and distrust existed and caused anti- The entertainment industry was hit particularly movement to investigate suspected Communists, Congress members reached the racist conclusion Communist hysteria in the 1950s. There were hard with hearings, even beyond the Hollywood encouraged the average American to spy on their that all of the Jewish people in Hollywood were high-profile, televised hearings which declared Ten. Other well-known artists who were called neighbors and friends (see pg. 19 Communism and Communists, and therefore took a particular interest that Communists, who were perceived as being before the Committee include: Dashiell Hammett, McCarthyism in America.) in them when issuing subpoenas related to the inherently disloyal to the US by Joseph McCarthy Waldo Salt, Lillian Hellman, Lena Horne, Paul House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC). and other right-wing members of Congress, Robeson, Arthur Miller, Aaron Copland, Leonard Within this time, the Jewish community was HUAC was formed in order to investigate Martin had infiltrated the government, schools, and Bernstein, Charlie Chaplin, and Group Theatre especially targeted, due to anti-Semitism amongst Dies, chairman of the House Un-American Activities entertainment industries, among others. In Red members Clifford Odets, Elia Kazan, and Stella the members of Congress who were responsible Committee, stated in 1950, “There are too many Herring, on multiple occasions these televised Adler. By the end of the period of interrogations, for the hearings. During the 1940s and 1950s, Jews in Hollywood.” Six of the “Hollywood Ten”–the hearings are overheard in the background. 320 artists were blacklisted. the Jewish population in America was becoming ten original “unfriendly witnesses” who would not increasingly more educated and thus was moving cooperate with HUAC’s demand that they identify The entertainment industry (including film, radio, Arthur Miller responded to this political climate into more white-collar professions. Many Jewish Communists in Hollywood–were Jewish. television, and theater) was hit particularly hard by writing The Crucible, set during the witch people became writers or teachers, or joined the with accusations. The film industry allegations trials in Salem, Massachusetts. The play dually entertainment and academic industries. During the Jewish people were incredibly vulnerable to reached a new level of public awareness with deals with Miller’s personal experience with the Red Scare, Jewish people were frequent targets being accused of radicalism due to mass anti- the events involving the Hollywood Ten, a group HUAC hearings and McCarthyism as a whole. within these fields. According to the Jewish Women’s Semitic sentiment in the US. A 1948 study by of writers and directors who were called to According to Amir Aziz, Assistant Professor Archive, “Some 90% of the teachers ‘blacklisted’ the American Jewish Committee, found that “21 testify in October 1947. Alvah Bessie, Herbert in English at University of the Punjab, Lahore, from working in the public schools in this period due percent of Americans did believe that ‘most Jews Biberman, Lester Cole, Edward Dmytryk, Ring Pakistan, the Salem witch trials proved to be to their alleged subversive activities were Jewish.” are Communists,’ and that more than half [of Lardner Jr., John Howard Lawson, Albert Maltz, an apt comparison to the times because in both Americans] associated Jews with atomic spying.” Samuel Ornitz, Adrian Scott, and Dalton Trumbo instances the “failure to defend oneself against The entertainment industry in particular became a This public sentiment only increased after the trial each individually refused to cooperate with incrimination was considered proof of seditious financially viable business venture for many Jewish of the Rosenbergs. Julius and Ethel Rosenberg the investigation. It was common during these activities against the state.” people in America because most other industries were were arrested in 1950 on charges of passing atomic hearings that not only would the ideological status restrictive due to anti-Semitism. In film, television, secrets to the Soviet Union; the two were framed, of the interrogated person be questioned, but they As we enjoy this theatrical comedy set in the Cold and radio, there were opportunities at all levels of the convicted, and executed in 1953 (see pg. 38 Are You would also be implored to give names of other War era, let us keep in mind the artists who had industry that were deemed “too risky” by the majority a Good Spy or a Bad Spy.) This led to a public anti- Communists in their respective industries. The to endure unconstitutional interrogation of their of Americans, and thus the film industry was not Semitic distrust of Jewish people that resulted in a Hollywood Ten did not give any additional names ideological beliefs. We are able to produce Red as unattainable as the other industries had been. disproportionate amount of investigations into Jewish and used their time to denounce the Committee Herring today, but there was a time in which this Many Jewish people also joined the film, radio, and people. A 2008 study of the 124 people questioned for their actions. “I am not on trial here,” declared play could have been seen as un-American. As television industry from the Yiddish theater community, by HUAC in 1952 showed that two-thirds were screenwriter Lawson. “This committee is on trial.” distrust of the media and anti-Hollywood sentiment which had been strong in the US since the late 1880s. Jewish. Oftentimes, in order to “prove” that someone They were each cited for contempt of Congress, seems to be on the rise again, let us stand firm in was more likely to be considered a Communist, far- sentenced to prison terms, and were “blacklisted,” our beliefs as artists and not shut each other out During the lead-up to the US’s involvement in World right members of HUAC, such as John Rankin and or disallowed, from working in Hollywood. because of fear-mongering.

36 Red Herring PlayNotes 37 Red Herring Digging Deeper Red Herring Digging Deeper Lona Cohen (1913-1992) Are You a Good Spy or a Bad Spy? One of the more noted spy stories of the atomic age starred Lona Cohen, a young woman disenchanted with the economic disparities in the or, It Ain't No Lie, United States who saw promise for a better future with communist ideals. Growing up in the Great They're Gonna Spy, Spy, Spy Depression, it is no wonder she might imagine by Kayla M. Kaufman economic reform. She became a messenger who During the Cold War and the nuclear arms race leading up to it, information was leaked between the passed top secret information from scientists United States and Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) for a variety of reasons with many within the Manhattan Project to the USSR. In her intentions. Some were like James in Red Herring, who passed information from the United States to famous spy moment, she had boarded a train Russia while bombs were being developed, in order to assure a balance of powers. Others, like Andrei, with the documents hidden in a tissue box, only were forced into espionage through family threats and the need to protect those they love. All that to to find that FBI agents were searching the train. say, many spies, indicted or not, were spying for reasons they believed to be good. The following are In her quick thinking, she posed as a haphazard some prominent historical spies from the era. woman carrying one too many things, and handed off her tissue box to one officer to hold Klaus Fuchs (1911-1988) while the other searched her bags. Unwittingly, Considered to be the most important atomic that officer kept the tissue box and returned it to spy of all, Klaus Fuchs supplied information her once the inspection was complete, and Lona from American, British, and Canadian atomic carried the documents onto their final destination. development projects to the Soviet Union. Fuchs was one of the most important physicists involved Lona Cohen. in the development and creation of the bomb, and therefore stuck to almost exclusively delivering Ethel (1915-1953) and his own plans to the Soviet Union. He was Julius (1918-1953) Rosenberg considered a “devout Communist,” according to The most famous spy couple in Cold War his Soviet contact. He trusted Russian policy, and history is undoubtedly Ethel and Julius believed not only could the Soviet Union be ready Rosenberg. Noted Communist sympathizer, to present a better governmental, social, and Julius Rosenberg, was a “tough nut to crack,” economic structure to the world, but also believed according to a Congressional Committee that he was ensuring a balance of powers. Klaus Fuchs. message. New evidence alleges that perhaps only Julius was guilty, but Ethel was used to crack his shell. Historians now agree Theodore Hall (1925-1999) actions performed by at least Julius renders After graduating from Harvard University at him legally guilty of espionage, but their trial age 18, Theodore Hall was hired to work on was fraught with digressions from wrongful the Manhattan Project. As he became more claims to anti-Semitism. In fact, the only knowledgeable of the nuclear weaponry reason the FBI came after the Rosenbergs so being developed, built, and tested as part aggressively was because of evidence the FBI of the project, he began to worry about the could not share, found in intercepts of Soviet consequences of an American monopoly of intelligence messages. Because the FBI did nuclear weapons, and whether the possession not want to make public that they were able to of these weapons might lead to the rise of a decode Soviet intelligence, and without which fascist government. He believed that, by passing the prosecutors had a weak case, various on this critical nuclear information to the USSR, witnesses were trained and incentivized by he was ensuring a balance of power. Thus, outside forces, including their own exoneration. he was a firm believer in the Mutually Assured In the end, the Rosenbergs were sentenced to Destruction doctrine that suggested if two enemy death at ages 37 and 35, respectively. As Alan powers knew the use of nuclear weapons would Dershowitz, spy historian, summed it up: “the cause the destruction of both the attacker and Rosenbergs were guilty–and framed.” defender, this would stave off nuclear war, much Ethel and Julius Rosenberg. Theodore Hall. like James in Red Herring.

38 Red Herring PlayNotes 39 Red Herring Digging Deeper Red Herring Digging Deeper Many of these examples aforementioned do not left many citizens fearful and ready to convict USA & Media in the Cold War: easily qualify as censorship, since much of what those around them. In the end, whether the United occurred was gentle pushing of correspondents States did indeed censor media during the Cold or publishers into pro-USA and anti-Communist War remains a question–but whether media was Can You Callby Kayla it M. KCensorship?aufman sentiment. A great deal more of this pushing influenced in some way, shape, or form during this The First Amendment of the United States on the grounds of national security, which left the occurred due to the widespread Red Scare that time period is undoubtable. Constitution states: public unknowledgeable on much of the United Congress shall make no law respecting an States’ active policy against the Soviet Union. Due establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free to the circumstances in which these journalists Feminism of the '50s exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of found themselves, the reports on the Soviet Union by Katie Baskerville speech, or of the press; or the right of the people were heavily impacted by US policy. In Red Herring, there are many jokes regarding psychologists, with heavy medication, and peaceably to assemble, and to petition the the expectation that marriage is the sole occasionally shock therapy. This was due in Government for a redress of grievances. Another way the United States influenced ambition of women: “all grown up and ready to large part to the popularity of psychologist anti-Communist and pro-USA sentiment was be a wife” and “what’s a nice girl like you doing Sigmund Freud. These perspectives resulted This Amendment is proudly promoted by the through book publishing. The government wearing a holster instead of a wedding ring,” in a general dismissal of women’s opinions and United States as one of our values, held dear, secretly funded publishers to promote American among others. It is easy to think of women in perspectives, and speaking out could come at a unique among many nations. The United States culture and ideals in books, especially any that the 1950s as housewives who had abandoned great personal cost for them. has criticized other nations for many grievances specifically condemned Communist sentiment. feminism. Some of the women who had gone against free speech and press, from Germany’s For example, Animal Farm and 1984 both to work during WWII, the “Rosies,” had stopped The Red Scare also significantly impacted the blatant Nazi propaganda to the Soviet Union’s encouraged the scientific potential of the atomic working to start families. Many children were Feminist Movement during the Cold War (See censorship of non-Communist media. Yet with a bomb without really touching on its destructive born during this era that the generation is known pg. 19 Communism & McCarthyism in America). discerning eye turned towards the United States, potential. This government initiative affected as “the baby boomers.” Often overlooked, many In the early 20th century, Anarchists, Socialists, there are unfortunately several examples of both books published in the United States, and people with traditionally marginalized genders and Communists had been allies in the fight for censorship–or something very close to it–within funded which books would be translated and did fight to keep their jobs, but were fired due to suffrage, workers’ rights, and access to birth the land of the free, one of these examples being disseminated outside of the country by American their gender. Others, including many people of control and sex education. At this time, the groups during the Cold War era (see pg. 16 Cold War publishers–and barred other books from color, continued working due to the economic joined together in public political demonstrations Timeline). Though much of the government’s distribution. These books that were selected strain of unemployment, but were in high- in order to achieve their goals. Due to the actions to influence the public through bending to go out of the country had further funding to turnaround jobs that would routinely fire and heightened distrust of Communists associated the First Amendment arguably never broke it, market them well in other countries. rehire in order to keep wages low. However, with Joseph McCarthy and the Red Scare, any the effects of their intervention can be seen most claiming that feminism died completely in the sort of public demonstration would be met with prominently in news, books, and films. Perhaps most famously, the United States 1950s is an overstatement. It was certainly not serious consequences. For those people with government had a forceful hand in what was or the active feminism seen with the Suffragettes of traditionally marginalized genders who were in the Just as United States reporters had pointed to was not created in Hollywood during the Cold War the early 20th century, the Women’s Liberation workplace, discrimination was already rampant Soviet reporters as having prejudice in covering (see pg. 37 McCarthyism & The Arts). Many of movement of the 1960s and 70s, or the due to their gender, so to be blacklisted as a their foes, so did the American reporters cover the House Un-American Activities Committee’s intersectional feminist movement of the 1990s to Communist sympathizer would make them virtually the Soviet Union with heavy bias. Due to strong (HUAC) most famous suspects were in the film today, but it was certainly still present. unable to work. This impact was felt beyond the Communist fear prevailing through the country and television industry, where the group suspected 1950s, in the 1960s and early 1970s it was nearly inspired by McCarthyism, American reporters a great deal of Communists were creating Soviet- This period of feminism can be thought of as impossible for women to even procure the proper entered the Soviet Union with deeply anti- sympathetic media that was actively consumed by a period of constrained feminism. The Cold permits to protest and when they did protest legally Communist lenses. If their homebred bigotry was the American public. As more and more people in War period affected the feminist movement they were met with police brutality. not enough to have an unfair take on the Soviet the industry were accused of Communist sympathy, in many subversive ways that can be divided Union, during much of the Cold War, American studio executives compiled a blacklist: a list of into two main perspectives. The first is This led to an era of women becoming isolated correspondents were not allowed to travel around people within the industry that no one would work from an ideological perspective. Following within their own homes and fighting for their the country, attend press conferences, or speak to with lest they, too, be accused of having Communist WWII, containment and security became top agency within their individual and separate officials. With the American public eager to label any ideals. This wreaked damage, if not destruction, political priorities for the US. This led to a marriages or family situations. In Red Herring, correspondent a secret Communist sympathizer upon many careers. By removing so many voices common opinion that social issues should be we see three women who take their lives into if an article was too lenient (see pg. 38 Are You a from Hollywood, huge quantities of stories were not dealt with on a private, personal level. (This their own hands. They are individuals, but they Good Spy or a Bad Spy) and the Soviet Union only told during this time period, effectively censoring perspective was later co-opted in the Women’s are each strong and firm in their own identities. giving forth their government’s “official” version of any stories that might offer different insight into the Liberation movement of the 60s and 70s into So when you look back at the 1950s, do not see events, most American articles were cut and dry, Cold War era. In addition, HUAC actively intervened the phrase “The personal is political.”) At the women as disempowered; rather, see them as without a hint of analysis. Additionally, any press with stories that were told, often forcing executives time, ‘women’s issues’ were thought of as a independently fighting for their own victories. that critiqued US policy, especially when it came to to change endings to movies so that they would be sort of neurosis that needed to be treated by developing nuclear weapons, was heavily altered seen as more pro-USA and anti-Communist.

40 Red Herring PlayNotes 41 Red Herring Digging Deeper Red Herring Digging Deeper Fishing for Trouble: Laughing at Whose Expense? by Celia Watson Historically, individuals with physical or mental Mute Climate Change & the Fishing Industry disabilities have been targets of jokes in film, “Mute” can be defined in two ways: as an adjective, by Kayla M. Kaufman theater, and society overall. While there is a place meaning silent or refraining from speech, and as a The correct identity of a dead fisherman found natural habitats becoming uninhabitable through for slapstick, physical humor, and banter in comedy, noun, meaning a person incapable of speech. The at the harbor is a mystery in Red Herring, but temperature fluctuation and acidity, species need it is important to recognize when these jokes go too latter definition is seen as offensive as it undermines whether or not climate change is impacting the to find new homes and new migratory patterns lest far or mock someone's experience without realizing the communicative ability of people who do not fishing industry is not a mystery at all. If you don’t these factors cause the species’ mortality rates to it. Published in 2002, Red Herring contains several speak. The word “mute” has been applied to those believe the 97% of climate scientists that confirm skyrocket. Humans and other species who rely on jokes that make fun of people with disabilities or who do not vocally communicate in the way that climate change is happening and is caused by these fish for social and economic reasons will, in medical conditions. Although this sort of ridicule others find acceptable, regardless of the individual’s humans, just ask a fisherman who’s been around turn, face the consequences of their loss. was likely common during the 1950s, we must capacity for communicating via other means. In long enough to observe the dramatic changes. still be aware of these jokes today and the real extremely rare cases, some people are born with Much of how climate change will affect the people whom they affect. Our culture has made a problems in the vocal cords or throats that cause Since the post-industrial era began, humans future is uncertain, yet many great changes are lot of progress in treating people with disabilities them to become “physically mute.” have been contributing to the emissions of on the horizon. For now, the fishing industry, better, yet there is still a way to go. This topic can greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, governmental powers, and good citizens must be uncomfortable to talk about, but being aware of A related term is “deaf-mute,” an outdated and methane, and nitrous oxide. These gases fight to ensure conservation of natural spaces, and questioning topics in comedy could be a way to also offensive word stemming from the 18th-19th accumulate in the atmosphere, trap radiation, promote sustainable practices in fishing and other shed unhealthy societal views as a whole. century. “Deaf-mute” has been associated with and cause warming or cooling of the Earth’s industries, and continue to support research and deaf and hard of hearing people who struggle to climate based on the gases’ concentration. initiatives that will address climate change. In Red Herring, Mrs. Kravitz declares that Andrei is hear their own voice. Cochlear implants in and This causes not only drastic weather events, "mute" in order to conceal his identity. He pretends around the ear have been developed to help deaf but a global increase in surface and water using “a complex system of hand gestures, body and hard of hearing people understand sounds temperature and a rise in the global sea level. Climate Change Facts from The Nature Conservancy, one of signals, and facial movements,” according to Mrs. in the environment or vocal speech. Although Kravitz. As seen in Red Herring: their sounds may not seem to be coherent words, In response to these climate change effects, fish many organizations dedicated to fighting climate change. people who are deaf often have fully functioning move in search of cooler water, leaving their once MRS. KRAVITZ: Go ahead, Nate, answer the vocal chords and use their voice in addition to populated grounds behind in order to find an question; I’ll translate. (Andrei looks from one to other methods to communicate. ecosystem where they can survive. This impacts 97% of climate scientists agree that climate change is caused by human activity. the other, then begins to gesticulate in a faltering the livelihoods of fishermen across the world, with sign language.) their typical catch often finding new living spaces. Global sea levels have increased by 8 inches FRANK: What did he say? … In Portland, Maine, the impact can be seen in the over the last century, and the rate of rising has doubled in the last two decades. MRS. KRAVITZ: He says he once shared a cab lobster industry, which makes up over 70% of with Norman Vincent Peale. the state’s fishing economy. Lobsters that have FRANK: Did he ever receive postcards with traditionally lived in more southern regions, from Between 2000-2016, every year broke the record for hottest year on record. cryptic messages? New York to Connecticut, have begun migrating (Andrei goes all out, including foot stomps, north for cooler waters. Lobstering industries The average worldwide temperature has forehead slaps, etc. It’s long and drawn out. to the south of Maine have collapsed and have Frank turns to Mrs. Kravitz, very interested.) needed to turn their fishing skills towards oysters, increased 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit over the last century. MRS. KRAVITZ: “Greetings from Lake Tahoe.” or even seaweed farming. In Maine, due to the (Beat. Frank turns back to Andrei, suspiciously.) northern migration, the state’s fishing industry is For the past 400,000 years, the average FRANK: What part of that was “Lake Tahoe?” currently experiencing a boom, with more lobsters (Andrei repeats some gesture.) Uh huh. to catch than ever before. Yet the lobsters aren’t CO2 levels have been 275 PPM. The current average concentration is 400 PPM. just here to settle down in “Vacationland;” due Mrs. Kravitz random interpretation of Andrei’s to the water temperature ever increasing, this exaggerated movements is to cover up any sort of migration will continue farther north, avoiding the The global ocean acidty levels have increased by 30%. truth in his statement, yet Andrei’s motions that he stress caused by warmer waters. uses to communicate as a "mute" person should not The United States alone is expected to see at be confused with sign language that real deaf, hard Besides lobsters, these changes also impact of hearing, and physically mute individuals use. most other aquatic and marine species who are least a $180 billion economic loss if no action is taken to address climate change. Here is an explanation of two terms: Though she spoke primarily in ASL, Hellen left highly vulnerable due to climate change. With Keller was not mute.

42 Red Herring PlayNotes 43 Red Herring Digging Deeper Red Herring Digging Deeper American Sign Language and individuals with epilepsy. The medically used with TS, tics often emerge in the head and neck American Sign Language (ASL) is used in the term today is “Sydenham chorea” after Thomas region when they are aged 5-7, becoming more United States and in numerous parts of Canada. It Sydenham, British physician, and “chorea” severe from the ages of 8-12. Tics generally improve is a system of visual language that utilizes the “the stemming from the Greek word choreia, meaning by late adolescence and early 20s, and some lose shape, placement, and movement of the hands, as “dance.” Sydenham chorea typically occurs in tics completely. A small number of people affected well as facial expressions and body movements” childhood, between ages 5-15 and more frequently continue to have tics as adults. to express information, according to the National in girls than boys. Symptoms of Sydenham chorea Association of the Deaf (NAD). It is typically used include involuntary, irregular, and rapid movements In the final scene on the dock, James returns after with people who are deaf or hard of hearing, yet of arms, legs, and facial muscles, according to viewing the explosion of the bomb. “It was like some anyone can learn ASL. ASL is a rich language the National Institute of Neurological Disorders terrible sunrise, burning up the sky. That’s what fried distinct from English that has its own syntax and and Stroke. It may also involve uncoordinated my retinas–only temporary, they said.” He then falls grammar. Many countries have their own sign movements, stumbling, falling, and weakness of off the dock. What is blindness and what causes it? language, and it can vary by region within a country, muscles. Children may experience symptoms Here is a brief description of blindness, along with just like an accent or dialect. As noted by the for 3-6 weeks or several months. In most cases, some ways blind people lead independent lives. NAD, ASL meets modern and “foreign” language children completely recover, though a third of requirements in many colleges, high schools, and children will experience a recurring onset 1.5-2.5 Blindness universities, and it is recognized as a language in years afterwards. Sydenham chorea is rare in North Blindness is defined as complete lack of sight in over 40 states. America and Europe due to antibiotics and sanitary both eyes, or the inability to see light in either eye. conditions, but it can still be found in developing Visual impairment refers to low vision, when one When Lynn meets Mrs. Kravitz and Andrei at her countries. cannot see well even with glasses or surgery. apartment, Mrs. Kravitz tries to hide Andrei as he Of the 300-400 million people in the world with “signs” behind her. She says, “You’ll have to excuse Tourette Syndrome visual impairments, approximately 50 million are my husband. He’s Got St. Vitus’ Dance. (Andrei According to the National Institute of Neurological completely blind, according to Dr. Andrew A. gives her the finger, then stomps off. Pause.). And Disorders and Stroke, Tourette syndrome (TS) Dahl and Dr. William C. Shiel, Jr. Blindness can Tourette’s Syndrome–brutal combination.” Mrs. is a neurological disorder characterized by tics, be typically caused by diabetes, infections of the Some people with blindness use guide dogs to assist them. Kravitz attempts to excuse Andrei’s profane motion which are involuntary, repetitive movements and cornea or retina, glaucoma and traumatic injuries, by deceptively likening it to a physical involuntary vocalizations. Tics vary from mild to severe and can lack of access to glasses, and other factors. The Ronald D. Berger, Sociology Professor Emeritus jerk or a tic characteristic of Tourette syndrome. often change in severity and frequency, in relation causes of permanent blindness vary from those from University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, notes Below is an outline of the real symptoms of St. to external and internal factors such as anxiety or in temporary blindness. Individuals living with that disability humor can have an impact on Vitus’ Dance and Tourette syndrome: stress, or sometimes for unknown causes. The blindness may use Braille writing, white walking society, as it "has the potential to undermine the Tourette Association of America notes that TS is one canes, non-visual skills, and other accessibility assumptions and institutional practices upon St. Vitus’ Dance type of Tic Disorder, characterized by at least two options to lead a life of independence. The National which disabling humor is based, while also “St. Vitus’ Dance” is an old-fashioned term for motor tics and one vocal/phonic tic over the course Federation of the Blind BELL Academy (Braille attenuating nondisabled people’s discomfort Sydenham chorea, a neurological disorder that of more than a year. Motor tics are movements such Enrichment for Literacy and Learning) teaches with disability issues and allowing for empathic results from a streptococcus infection. St. Vitus’ as arm jerking, jaw movements, eye blinking, facial children aged 4-12 Braille enrichment activities and understanding of matters that are difficult to Dance got its name by being previously confused grimacing, and others. Examples of vocal/phonic independent living skills, such as counting money, acknowledge or express in other contexts." with symptoms of “dance mania” that was tics include grunting, throat clearing, shouting, or baking, and other activities. For example, a blind In addition to being aware of how humor is supposedly “cured by a pilgrimage to the shrine out-of-context words. The causes of TS, a hereditary person may fold dollar bills in a certain way to utilized in relation to the experiences of people of St. Vitus,” the patron saint of dancers, actors, condition, remain unknown. For individuals affected distinguish the amount of money from one another. with disabilities, consider how language and jokes pertaining to people of color, people of Disability studies scholars Kim Reid, Edy traditionally marginalized genders, LGBTQ+ Hammond Stoughton, and Robin Smith consider individuals, religious groups, and other immutable two different ways that disability is portrayed qualities that people have can perpetuate stigmas in comedy. They draw a comparison between and prejudices (see pg. 36 Antisemitism & The “disabling humor” and “disability humor.” “Disabling Red Scare.) Empathy, listening, awareness, humor” is humor that degrades, or laughing at and accurate representation are all key steps to the person with a disability. “Disability humor” understanding another lived situation. Pause and is humor that informs or enlightens, or laughing question if a word associated with a disability with the person. The scholars agree that people slips into your vocabulary. Consider watching the with disabilities are the ones best suited to make numerous disabled comedians out there who are affirming jokes about disability. employing disability humor. Together, we can Deaf West, a professional sign language theater in southern California, change the way in which disability is represented performs Spring Awakening.. in comedy, and in turn, throughout society.

44 Red Herring PlayNotes 45 Extras Extras Outreach & Advocacy Feminism Today Support People with Disabilities by Kayla M. Kaufman National Organization for Women (NOW) Friendship Circle This section is dedicated to taking the issues we Fight Climate Change “The National Organization for Women is the “The Friendship Circle exists to bring happiness discuss in PlayNotes and offering an easy way for largest organization of feminist grassroots activists and companionship to children and young our readers to connect to those issues. The Nature Conservancy in the United States. NOW’s purpose is to take adults with special needs by celebrating their “The mission of The Nature Conservancy is to action through intersectional grassroots activism individuality, as well as bringing energy, support, Are you or a loved one affected by one of conserve the lands and waters on which all life to promote feminist ideals, lead societal change, and peace of mind to their families.” the issues we discussed? Reach out to depends. Our vision is a world where the diversity eliminate discrimination, and achieve and protect http://www.friendshipcircle.com/ these resources for support. Want to make a of life thrives, and people act to conserve nature the equal rights of all women and girls in all difference in how these issues are handled in for its own sake and its ability to fulfill our needs aspects of social, political, and economic life.” Special Needs Alliance our community? Reach out to these resources and enrich our lives.” https://now.org/ “The Special Needs Alliance is a national to find advocacy and volunteer opportunities or https://www.nature.org/ organization comprised of attorneys committed to donate towards their causes. Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF) helping individuals with disabilities, their families, National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) “The Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF) is a and the professionals who serve them.” Forensics & Criminal Justice Reform “NRDC works to safeguard the earth—its people, cutting-edge organization dedicated to women's https://www.specialneedsalliance.org/ its plants and animals, and the natural systems equality, reproductive health, and non-violence. The Innocence Project on which all life depends.” In all spheres, FMF utilizes research and action Easterseals “The Innocence Project exonerates the wrongly https://www.nrdc.org/ to empower women economically, socially, and “Easterseals’ mission is to change the way the world convicted through DNA testing and reforms the politically. Our organization believes that feminists defines and views disabilities by making positive, criminal justice system to prevent future injustice.” Union of Concerned Scientists - both women and men, girls and boys - are the profound differences in people's lives every day.” https://www.innocenceproject.org/ “At the Union of Concerned Scientists, we put majority, but this majority must be empowered.” http://www.easterseals.com/ rigorous science to work to build a healthier http://www.feminist.org/ Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition (MPAC) planet and a safer world.” “The Maine Prisoner Advocacy Coalition is https://www.ucsusa.org HeForShe Support Freedom of Press comprised of Maine prisoners, their friends and “HeForShe is inviting people around the world families, victims of crime, and others committed to stand together to create a bold, visible force American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to ethical, positive, and humane changes in Abolish Nuclear Weapons for gender equality. And it starts by taking action “For nearly 100 years, the ACLU has been our Maine's prison system.” right now to create a gender equal world.” nation’s guardian of liberty, working in courts, http://www.maineprisoneradvocacy.org International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons http://www.heforshe.org/ legislatures, and communities to defend and (ICAN) preserve the individual rights and liberties that Maine Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants “The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear the Constitution and the laws of the United States (CURE) Weapons is a coalition of non-government guarantee everyone in this country.” “CURE is a national non-profit, multi-issue organizations in one hundred countries advocating https://www.aclu.org organization dedicated to the reduction of crime for a strong and effective nuclear weapon ban treaty.” through the reform of the criminal justice system http://www.icanw.org/ Freedom of the Press Foundation (especially prison reform). CURE strives to ensure “Freedom of the Press Foundation protects just treatment for prisoners, victims, and families.” Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) and defends adversarial journalism in the 21st http://www.mainecure.org “The Nuclear Threat Initiative protects lives, the century. We use crowdfunding, digital security, environment, and our quality of life now and for and internet advocacy to support journalists and American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Maine future generations. Every day, we work to prevent whistleblowers worldwide.” “The ACLU of Maine is the state's guardian catastrophic attacks with weapons of mass https://freedom.press/ of liberty. We are active in the courts, the destruction and disruption—nuclear, biological, legislature and the public sphere to defend the radiological, chemical, and cyber.” Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) Constitution and the Bill of Rights for all Mainers. http://www.nti.org/ “The Committee to Protect Journalists is an Our priority issues include criminal justice independent, non-profit organization that reform, reproductive freedom, racial justice, promotes press freedom worldwide. We defend immigrants' rights, LGBT rights, women's rights, the right of journalists to report the news voting rights, freedom of expression, freedom of without fear of reprisal.” speech and religion, and privacy.” https://cpj.org/ https://www.aclumaine.org/

Emma Watson introducing HeForShe.

46 Red Herring PlayNotes 47 Extras Extras Recommended Resources Portland Stage Company by the Editors BOOKS Education and Outreach The Spy Who Came in From the Cold by John le Carré Join Portland Stage as we discuss, debate, and explore the plays on our stage and in the classroom! Portland Stage The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson is dedicated to bringing exciting theater, inspiring conversation, interactive experiences, and thought-provoking Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell literature to a wide audience of youth and adult learners. Whether you take part in a discussion, subscribe to The Cold War by John Lewis Gaddis PlayNotes, take a class in our Theater for Kids space, or bring a group of students to see a performance, there is Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe, 1944-1956 by Anne Applebaum something here for everyone. How would you like to participate? Mr. Jones by Margaret Sweatman Student Matinee Series Forty Autumns: A Family's Story of Courage and Survival on Both Sides of the Berlin Wall by Nina Willner Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall by Anna Funder The Portland Stage Student Matinee Program annually provides more than 7,000 middle and high school students from Maine and New Hampshire with discounted tickets for student matinees. Following Student Matinee performances, students participate in discussions with members of the cast and crew, actively and energetically CHILDREN'S BOOKS exploring all elements of the production and the issues raised in the play. The Butter Battle Book by Dr. Seuss Special People, Special Ways by Arlene Maguire Play Me a Story Don’t Call Me Special by Pat Thomas My Friend Isabelle by Eliza Woloson Experience the Fun & Magic of Theater on Saturday Mornings at 10:30am with Play Me a Story! Ages 4-10 are welcome to enjoy a performance of children’s stories, then participate in an acting workshop with professional CSI Expert!: Forensic Science for Kids by Karen Schulz theater artists. Build literacy, encourage creativity and spark dramatic dreams! Walk-ins are welcome, but pre- Detective Science: 40 Crime-Solving, Case-Breaking, Crook-Catching Activities for Kids by Jim Wiese registration is encouraged! Crime Scene Investigations: Real-Life Science Activities for the Elementary Grades by Pam Walker The Lil Super Snoopers Club 2nd Edition: Kid's Forensic Science Detectives by Steve P Jefferson After School Classes After school classes at Portland Stage produce a safe environment for young people to find a higher sense of play, MOVIES stretch their imaginations, and gain valuable social skills such as listening, risk taking, ensemble building, public Dr. Strangelove speaking, and leadership through storytelling. These classes are wildly fun, creative, spontaneous, and begin to build The Iron Giant skills for the young actor or non-actor’s voice, body, and imagination. Visit our website for this year’s offerings! Rocky IV Vacation and Summer Camps The Manchurian Candidate The Crucible Our theater camps are fun, challenging and enriching. We use stories of all kinds to fuel these active, educational Spy Kids and lively, process-based week-long school vacation and summer programs for youth. Theater for Kids works with Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy professional actors, directors, artisans and composers. Students are invited to think, speak, and act, and even sing imaginatively, critically, and creatively in an environment of inclusivity and safe play. Harriet the Spy Classroom Workshop Program

The Classroom Workshop Program partners Portland Stage with regional middle and high schools to enhance the experience of students who participate in the Early Show Program by complementing their visits with pre- and post-show workshops in their own classrooms. Workshops are led by professional Teaching Artists who engage students in the creative process through writing, acting, directing and discussion.

The Intern Company

The Portland Stage Intern Program is committed to training future generations of theater professionals. Applicants should be highly motivated individuals who have acquired basic training in the theater arts and are looking to explore their field further through meaningful hands-on experience. Portland Stage interns can expect to be challenged by a creative process that relies on both ingenuity and collaboration. Interns at Portland Stage work with leading designers, directors, administrators, and our professional production team throughout the season. They leave with a greater knowledge of the theatrical process and the satisfaction of being part of a dedicated theater company where exceptional quality is the end goal.

Still from The Crucible..

48 Red Herring PlayNotes 49 Portland Stage Company 2017-2018 Staff Anita Stewart Executive & Artistic Director Artistic/Production Todd Brian Backus Literary Manager Daniel Brodhead Scenic Carpenter Hannah Cordes Education Manager Megan Doane General Manager Ted Gallant Technical Director Myles C. Hatch Stage Manager Emily Kenny Production Manager & Lighting & Sound Supervisor Julianne Shea Education Administrator Susan Thomas Costume Shop Manager Shane Van Vliet Stage Manager

Affiliate Artists Ron Botting Daniel Noel Peter Brown Michael Rafkin Daniel Burson Ed Reichert Maureen Butler Hans Indigo Spencer Ian Carlsen Dustin Tucker Moira Driscoll Bess Welden Abigail Killeen Monica Wood Callie Kimball Sally Wood

Administration Paul Ainsworth Business Manager Lena Castro Social Media & Marketing Associate Chris DeFilipp House Manager Jessica Eller Box Office Julia Fitzgerald Development Assistant Beth Given Development Director Alex Kimmel Company Manager Martin Lodish Finance Director Renee Myhaver Box Office Eileen Phelan Marketing Director Donald Smith Audience Services Manager Adam Thibodeau House Manager Intern Company Katie Baskerville Directing & Dramaturgy Katherine Borden General Administration Devin L. Bruton Electrics Eliza M. Burwell Stage Management Nolan Ellsworth Education Kristal Georgopoulos Stage Management Cloey Hammond Costumes Kayla Minton Kaufman Directing & Dramaturgy Clare McCormick Directing & Dramaturgy Trevor Stanchfield Scenic & Carpentry Robin Piatt Stegman Costumes Celia Watson Education