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The Bluest Eye Is About the Tragic Life of a Young Black Girl in 1940S Ohio

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The Bluest Eye Is About the Tragic Life of a Young Black Girl in 1940S Ohio "Highly recommended ... an altogether superb (and harrowing) world premiere stage adaptation." -Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times "Poignant, provocative.” -Backstage “Remarkable” -Chicago Sun-Times © The Dramatic Publishing Company “This is bittersweet, moving drama that preserves the vigor and the disquiet of Ms. Morrison’s novel ... for theatergoers of any age, it is not to be missed.” -The New York Sun “A powerful coming-of-age story that should be seen by all young girls.” -Chicagocritic.com AATE Distinguished Play Award winner Drama. Adapted by Lydia R. Diamond. From the novel by Toni Morrison. Cast: 2 to 3m., 6 to 10w. Nobel Prize-winning author Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye is about the tragic life of a young black girl in 1940s Ohio. Eleven-year- old Pecola Breedlove wants nothing more than to be loved by her family and schoolmates. Instead, she faces constant ridicule and abuse. She blames her dark skin and prays for blue eyes, sure that love will follow. With rich language and bold vision, this powerful adaptation of an American classic explores the crippling toll that a legacy of racism has taken on a community, a family, and an innocent girl. “Diamond’s sharp, wrenching, deeply humane adaptation ... helps us discover how an innocent like Pecola can be undone so thoroughly by a racist world that, if it sees her at all, does so only long enough to kick the pins out from under her.” (Chicago Reader) “A spare and haunting play ... The playwright displays a delicate touch that seems right for the theme spiraling through the piece: that of the invidious influence of a white-majority nation not yet mature enough to validate beauty in all its forms.” (Washington Post) Flexible staging. Approximate running time: 90 minutes. Code: BC4. Front cover photo: Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago, Ill., featuring Libya Pugh and Monifa Days. Photo: Michael Brosilow. Cover design: Jeanette Alig-Sergel ISBN-10 1-58342-538-1 ISBN-13 978-1-58342-538-1 Dramatic Publishing 311 Washington St. Woodstock, IL 60098-3308 ph: 800-448-7469 Printed on Recycled Paper www.dramaticpublishing.com © The Dramatic Publishing Company Toni Mor ri son’s THE BLUEST EYE Adapted by LYDIA R. DI A MOND Dra matic Pub lishing Woodstock, Illi nois • England • Aus tralia • New Zea land © The Dramatic Publishing Company *** NO TICE *** The am a teur and stock act ing rights to this work are con trolled ex clu - sively by THE DRA MATIC PUB LISHING COM PANY with out whose per mis sion in writ ing no per for mance of it may be given. Roy alty must be paid ev ery time a play is per formed whether or not it is pre sented for profit and whether or not ad mis sion is charged. A play is per formed any time it is acted be fore an au di ence. Cur rent roy alty rates, ap pli ca tions and re stric tions may be found at our Web site: www.dramaticpublishing.com, or we may be con tacted by mail at: DRA MATIC PUB LISHING COM- PANY, P.O. Box 129, Woodstock IL 60098. COPY RIGHT LAW GIVES THE AU THOR OR THE AU THOR’S AGENT THE EX CLU SIVE RIGHT TO MAKE COPIES. This law pro - vides au thors with a fair re turn for their cre ative ef forts. Au thors earn their liv ing from the roy al ties they re ceive from book sales and from the per for mance of their work. Con sci en tious ob ser vance of copy right law is not only eth i cal, it en cour ages au thors to con tinue their cre ative work. This work is fully pro tected by copy right. No al ter ations, de le tions or sub sti tu tions may be made in the work with out the prior writ ten con sent of the pub lisher. No part of this work may be re pro duced or trans mit ted in any form or by any means, elec tronic or me chan i cal, in clud ing pho to - copy, re cord ing, vid eo tape, film, or any in for ma tion stor age and re trieval sys tem, with out per mis sion in writ ing from the pub lisher. It may not be per formed ei ther by pro fes sion als or am a teurs with out pay ment of roy- alty. All rights, in clud ing, but not lim ited to, the pro fes sional, mo tion pic- ture, ra dio, tele vi sion, vid eo tape, for eign lan guage, tab loid, rec i ta tion, lec - tur ing, pub li ca tion and read ing, are re served. For per for mance of any songs, mu sic and re cord ings men tioned in this play which are in copy right, the per mis sion of the copy right own ers must be ob tained or other songs and re cord ings in the pub lic do main sub sti tuted. ©MMVII by LYDIA R. DI A MOND Based upon the book The Bluest Eye by TONI MORRISON Printed in the United States of Amer ica All Rights Re served (THE BLUEST EYE) For in qui ries con cern ing all other rights, con tact: In ter na tional Cre ative Man age ment, Inc., 825 Eighth Ave., 26th Floor, New York NY 10019 Phone: (212) 556-5636 ISBN: 978-1-58342-538-1 © The Dramatic Publishing Company IM POR TANT BILLING AND CREDIT RE QUIRE MENTS All pro duc ers of the play must give credit to Toni Mor ri son as the au thor of the book and Lydia Di a mond as the dramatizer of the play in all pro- grams dis trib uted in con nec tion with per for mances of the play and in all in stances in which the ti tle of the play ap pears for pur poses of ad ver tis - ing, pub li ciz ing or oth er wise ex ploit ing the play and/or a pro duc tion. The names of Toni Mor ri son and Lydia Di a mond must also ap pear on a sep a - rate line, on which no other name ap pears, im me di ately fol low ing the ti - tle, and must ap pear in size of type not less than fifty per cent (50%) the size of the ti tle type. Bio graph i cal in for ma tion on Toni Mor ri son and Lydia Diamond, if in cluded in the playbook, may be used in all pro - grams. In all pro grams this no tice must ap pear: “Pro duced by spe cial ar range ment with THE DRA MATIC PUB LISHING COM PANY of Woodstock, Il li nois” In ad di tion, all pro duc ers of the play must in clude the fol low ing an - nounce ment on the ti tle page of all pro grams dis trib uted in con nec tion with per for mances of the play and on all ad ver tis ing and pro mo tional ma - te ri als: “The Bluest Eye was com mis sioned and de vel oped through the Steppenwolf for Young Adults and the New Plays Ini tia tive by Steppenwolf Thea tre Com pany, Chi cago, Il li nois (Martha Lavey, Ar tis tic Di rec tor, Da vid Hawkanson, Ex ec u tive Di rec tor), where it received its world pre miere in Febru ary 2005.” © The Dramatic Publishing Company PLAY WRIGHT’S NOTE I am so pleased to have played a part in bring ing Toni Mor ri son’s ex qui sitely ren dered novel to au di ences in a new way and will al ways be ap pre cia tive that she agreed to let it have this new life. The pro cess of adapt ing this piece has been chal leng ing and re ward ing. The jour ney has been a play wright’s dream, an ini tial pro duc tion in a safe and nur tur ing en vi ron ment with bril liant the ater art ists fol lowed by more read ings and pro duc tions with gen er ous, tal ented and smart col lab o ra tors. I can not be gin to thank ev ery one who has helped shape this piece, so I will limit my self to the peo ple who touched it first: the Steppenwolf Thea tre Com pany; Lenora Inez Brown, the play’s first dramaturge; Hallie Gordon, the amaz ing di rec tor of its two pro duc tions at Steppenwolf and then at The New Vic in New York; Da- vid Muse, with whom I got to work shop the piece in be - tween Steppenwolf pro duc tions and who even tu ally di- rected a thought ful and el e gant pro duc tion at Thea tre Al li- ance in Wash ing ton, D.C., and fi nally, two other il lu mi nat - ing productions—Playmakers Rep in North Carolina and Plowshares Thea tre Com pany in De troit. I’d like to share a cou ple of les sons I’ve learned along the way. Ac tors and di rec tors can eas ily get pulled into a mad - den ing pro cess of try ing to sep a rate the “kid” voices from the “ma ture nar ra tion” han dled by Claudia and Frieda.
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