Optional Study Guide: Good People by David Lindsay-Abaire

About David Lindsay-Abaire: American playwright and lyricist David Lindsay-Abaire was born on November 30, 1969. to a working class family of five in a rough South Boston neighborhood. His father sold fruit out of a truck in Boston’s Chelsea Fruit Market and his mother worked on a circuit-board assembly line. The young David attended Boston public schools until the seventh grade, when he received a six-year scholarship to the Milton Academy, a small, private New England boarding school. Known to his classmates as the “funny one,” he wrote what he called "terrible, terrible plays" as a result of the school's tradition of presenting original student work. He went on to study acting and writing at Sarah Lawrence College where he met actor Chrisinte Lindsay. They married on April 9, 1994. From 1996-1998 he attended the prestigious Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program at the Juilliard School on fellowship, where he studied with playwrights Marsha Norman and Christopher Durang and began writing his first off-Broadway hit, Fuddy Meers.

Other successful plays quickly followed. Wonder of the World (2000); Kimberly Akimbo (2001), which received the L.A. Drama Circle Award for Playwriting, three Garland Awards, and the Kesselring Prize; and the Rabbit Hole (2006). For the latter Pulitzer prize-winning drama about the loss of a child he also wrote the screenplay for the 2010 film of the Rabbit Hole starring Nicole Kidman. In film, his writing credits include the movie Robots (2006) and the screenplay for Inkheart (2007). He also wrote the book for the musical High Fidelity, and the book and lyrics for Shrek the Musical. His more recent screenplays include Rise of the Gaurdians (2012), Oz The Great and Powerful (2013), and Poltergeist (2015). His play Good People had its official opening on Broadway on March 3, 2011, with Frances McDormand and Tate Donovan in the lead roles. Presently, Lindsay-Abaire lives in Brooklyn with his wife Christine and their son Nicholas who was born in 2000.

Plot Summary: Good People is set in South Boston’s Lower End and in Chestnut Hill, an affluent Boston suburb. The main character is Margaret, a 50-year-old woman who grew up in the rough and tumble south end of Boston. Lindsay-Abaire describes his own mother as having “a mouth like a trucker,” “hilarious,” and “the performer” of his family. In many ways this describes Margaret or “Margie,” (pronounced with a hard “g” as the script indicates). Margie navigates her life of living below the poverty line with humor, and colorful slice-of-life stories filled with poor and disenfranchised “Southies”. In the first scene of the play, when her boss at the Dollar Store, Stevie, attempts to tell Margaret that she is fired, she tries to avoid the grim prospect of losing her job as cashier by recounting a humorous anecdote about Stevie’s mother. The truth of her story is questionable, it fails to redeem her, and she is fired for her inability to get to work on time. Stevie, a young Southie man in his late twenties has to fire Margaret or risk losing his job, but he is ultimately sympathetic to Margaret, and suggests that she try to find work at Gillette, one of the community’s main employers. Mulling over the depressing prospects of finding another job, Margaret’s friend Jean suggests that she approach Mikey Dillon (Mike) for a job. Mike is an old flame of Margaret’s and a former Southie who has escaped the poverty of South Boston’s lower end by becoming a doctor. When Margaret approaches Mike for a job, their encounter becomes the heart of the play, and explores questions of class, social versus individual responsibility, community, race, and gender in relation to issues of social mobility. In Act II, Margaret shows up at Mike’s door in Chestnut Hill, and her Southie ways clash with Mike’s educated adult persona and sensibility. Mike’s wife Kate, fascinated and curious about her husband’s Southie roots, allows herself to be pulled into the drama and conflict of Margaret and Mike’s “reunion.” Things turn sour when Margaret’s stories of their colorful past, which Lindsay-Abaire makes intentionally ambiguous, raise questions about the “truth” of the past and present reality in all of their lives. Following the dramatic and potentially damaging evening Margaret spends with Mike and Kate, the play ends on a somewhat positive note. Margaret’s future is brighter with the prospect of a job at Gillette and the generosity of Stevie, who has encountered a bit of luck.

Cast of Characters: Margaret: Caucasian, about fifty. A hard-luck mother and a “Southie”. Stevie: Caucasian, late twenties. Margie’s manager at “The Dollar Store” and son of her late friend. Dottie: Caucasian, mid-sixties. Margie’s land-lady who also baby-sits Joyce so that Margie can work. Jean: Caucasian, about fifty. Margie’s friend from high school, and also still a “Southie” Mike: Caucasian, about fifty. Margie’s ex-boyfriend from high school. He left the projects and is now a doctor. Kate: African American, early thirties. A professor of literature and Mike’s young wife.

Joyce: Margie’s mentally disabled adult daughter. She does not appear onstage in the play. Ally: Mike and Kate’s baby daughter. She does not appear onstage in the play.

Symbols: (Note—We’re not telling you what these symbols mean, only that they are in the play. You need to figure out what each symbol means!) “The Dollar Store” The Rabbit The Vase Dumpster Bingo “Lace Curtain” Cheese

Themes: (Again—remember that themes are the big ideas of the play. What argument is Lindsay-Abaire making about the topics listed below? What scenes deal with the topics, or what evidence can you find in the play to support your interpretation of Abaire’s themes?) 1. Class relations in America 5. Is being philanthropic a luxury? 10. Storytelling as a coping mechanism 2. The American dream: fact or fiction 6. What is community in America? 11. Truth and memory 3. Being successful in America: hard work 7. What is political correctness? 12. The intersection of personal and or luck? 8. Class/racial stereotypes national mythologies 4. Social responsibility 9. The stories we live by Study Questions: These questions may be helpful for you to check your comprehension of each scene. They are not for a grade!

1. Scene one of the play takes place in an alley with a dumpster and a rusty chair behind a dollar store. Why does the playwright choose this setting? What symbolic associations do we make with a dollar store and the overall setting in this scene?

2. Why does Margaret tell Stevie the story about his mother? What is she trying to do, and why does her story fail to change Stevie’s mind about firing Margaret? Do you believe Margaret’s version of the story?

3. Throughout the play, is Margaret’s sense of a Southie community real or imagined? Do people in her community look out for one another, or is everyone simply motivated by self-interest?

4. Draw a character sketch of Margaret. Is she a stereotype of an uneducated, lower class middle-aged woman, or is she something more than this? Give examples of things she says and does to suggest either. Do you view Margaret as being “too nice,” as Jean describes her, or has she become “mean” like the other Southie girls, as Mike suggests?

5. What do the expressions “good people,” and “lace-curtain” mean in the play? Is it fair for Margaret to say that Mike has become “all lace- curtain”?

6. When Margaret approaches Mike for a job, does this illustrate naivety or resourcefulness? Does Mike want to help Margaret out?

7. Where throughout the play does Margaret appear politically incorrect? Where conversely does she appear to be witty and insightful? Note Margaret’s off-color remarks and contrast them with examples of the political correctness that Kate and Mike display.

8. Throughout the play, Margaret shows distrust, perhaps even a paranoia of the intentions of others. Who and what is she distrustful of exactly? How can we explain this distrust, and do you think she is justified? Why might a woman like Margaret feel easily threatened and mistrustful of people?

9. In scene three, Margaret pushes certain emotional buttons that upset and anger Mike. What are these emotional buttons? What is she doing, and why?

10. When Kate confuses Margaret with one of the caterers, why does she feel bad, and why can she relate to what Margaret might be feeling? Is Margaret offended by Kate? Why might being mistaken for a caterer ironically not bother Margaret?

11. What explains Kate’s welcoming and warm behavior towards Margaret? Is her interest in Margaret sincere? Why is Mike not thrilled to have Margaret in their home? Is it because of their past together or is it a question of class?

12. Why doesn’t Mike tell Kate that he and Margaret were more than friends?

13. Why does Margaret accuse Mike of being Joyce’s father? Does she do it because her friend Jean suggested it, or does she do it for another reason?

14. Do you believe that Mike is Joyce’s father? Based on a careful examination of the text, who do you think is telling the truth? How can we tell when Margaret is telling the truth? Why does Lindsay-Abaire make it so ambiguous?

15. Throughout most of Act Two, Kate seems very sympathetic towards Margaret. What do you make of her reaction to the idea that Mike may be Joyce’s father? What is her initial attitude and how does it evolve as she comes to fear that Margaret may really be telling the truth? How does she call Margaret’s bluff?

16. Do you think that Margaret is a bad person and mother as Kate suggests she is if her story about Mike being Joyce’s father is true? Kate judges her for not putting her pride aside and approaching Mike for help, but is Kate justified in this?

17. Is Mike proud of his Southie roots or embarrassed? Has he lost his “street cred,” or did he ever really have it? How has he portrayed his past to Kate? Is this a story he tells himself and others? Is it true, or is it part of his personal mythology? Does Margaret believe that Mike is admirable for how he escaped Southie life?

18. From looking closely at the play, what accounts for Margaret’s inability to escape the poverty of Southie? What sets her apart from Mike? Did Mike have more advantages than she did growing up? If so, what were they?

19. By the end of the play, who do you think is “good people”? After what Margaret does at Mike’s place, do we think she is “nice”? How do we feel about Mike and Kate? Do they sincerely care about Margaret and her present situation?

20. In the final scene of the play we assume that the check that Dottie receives in the mail to cover Margaret’s rent is from Mike or Kate. When we discover that it was indeed Stevie’s generosity, due to his recent luck at bingo, what final message does it seem Lindsay-Abaire wants to give? What does Stevie’s action say about the Southie community and about community in general?