The Mineola Twins A Study Guide Student Matinee performance Dec. 11, 2002 UMASS theater The Mineola Twins: A Synopsis of the Plot As the title of the play indicates, The her skirt tells us it is actually 1969,” abhorrent to Myrna. Mineola Twins traces the lives of a pair of Vogel writes. The conversation between The final showdown comes at the sisters. Though they look almost exactly Myrna and Kenny fills us in on what the women’s health clinic where Myra alike, their personalities couldn’t be twins have been doing since we last saw works. Myrna shows up, dressed like her more different. And though they share them. Myrna’s married, but not to Jim. twin, but with nefarious plans in mind. that special “twin bond” that we often By now, she’s a bitter woman who’s had She wants to blow up the clinic. That hear about, they also spend much of a mental breakdown and spent time in a plan is considerably complicated when their time and energy pushing away mental institution. she runs into Myra’s lover, Sarah, and from each other, defining themselves in Myra, meanwhile, is involved with a their son, Ben, who are both meeting opposition to each other, both in their radical 1960s anti-war group and, Myra there after her return from a trip. real lives in in their dreams. disguised as her twin, took part in the Despite their lack of direct contact When we first meet them in the group’s bank robbery. Now, she’s an for many years, the twins are dressed 1950s, Myrna, the “good” twin, and emotional mess, on the lam. She shifts identically on this day, and confusion Myra, the “evil” twin, are high from defiant anti-establishment talk to ensues when each keeps popping up schoolers. Good and evil are defined in laments about her situation and regrets and having conversations with Sarah. terms of that time but in an exaggerated about what’s happened to her twin. All the while, Myrna’s trying to plant her way. Good women are chaste and Myrna, despite everything, has sent her bomb, Myra’s distracted by work and virginal, have marriage as their top goal son Kenny (who seems more a chip off other issues, and Sarah’s trying to have a in life, and are secondary to the men in Myra’s block than Myrna’s) to Myra with serious relationship talk with what she their lives. Myrna is doing her best to money to fund her escape. thinks is a weirdly inconsistent partner. live up to these ideals, and already has We flash forward once again, this Myrna backs off her plan to bomb herself a virtuous fiancé. But she is time 20 years to 1989. Again, the scene the building, though, when she realizes disturbed by her sister’s total disregard opens with Myrna. Always a supporter it could kill her sister or her family, and for the rules. Myra is messy, of right-wing ideas, she’s no different in one of their psychic “twins” promiscuous, rebellious, works as a now: She is the popular host of a radio moments, she saves her twin from being cocktail waitress and wants anything but talk-show called Talk Back, Get Back, Bite inside the building. the proverbial house with the white Back, and she is the president of The play ends on a conciliatory picket fence. Concerned Americans for America, a note, with Myra and Sarah talking about Things come to a showdown for group representing conservative causes. what has happened. Myrna will the sisters after Myrna’s sexually In the studio, she’s visited by Ben, probably go to jail — Myra notes that it frustrated fiancé Jim ends up having a Myra’s young son. Just as Kenny seems didn’t seem too different from high one-night stand with Myra — and to have been born to the wrong twin school detention when she was there. Myrna finds out about it. from an ideological standpoint, so has But more important to Myra is the fact Flash forward to 1969. We see Ben, who idolizes his aunt and wants to that Myrna saved her. At the end, there Myrna standing in a bank line grow up to be just like her. The two talk is an image of the two twins, reaching accompanied by her teenage son, and Myrna shares her views of Myra’s out symbolically across the differences Kenny. She is “a woman who continues current life — she is now a lesbian and that separate them. to embrace the fifties; only the hem of works for reproductive rights, both — Anna-Maria Goossens Follow the timeline across the bottom of these pages for important events in U.S. and world history relevant to the play. l l l l North Korea invades l Julius and Ethel Dick Clark hosts the first American Research In Brown v. Board of South Korea, sparking the Rosenberg, accused of Bandstand. on mice links Education of Topeka, Kansas the l Korean War. cold war espionage, The first birth control pill is cancer to Supreme Court rules unanimously l Alleged Communist spy are sentenced to introduced, although it will not be tobacco tar. that racial segregation violates the l Alger Hiss is convicted of death. The Rosenbergs available to the public for 8 years. Stalin ‘s 14th Amendment to the l perjury.. Senator Joseph are executed in 1953 Dwight D. Eisenhower is elected death causes a Constitution. l McCarthy begins his anti- amid protest. president. Richard Nixon serves as his power struggle Senator Joseph McCarthy is Communist witch hunt. l J.D. Salinger ‘s vice-president. in the USSR. formally censured by Congress. l l l l U.S. Gross National The Catcher in the Rye is The world’s first nuclear power 20million Elvis Presley records ``That’s Product (GNP) tripled since published. plant accident occurs at Chalk River, homes have All Right Mama.’’ 1940, reaching $284 million. Canada. TVs. 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 Who Is Paula Vogel? The Biology and Psychology of Twins Paula Vogel grew up in a working class family in Identical twins (monozygotic) result when a single Washington, DC. She first became enamored of the theater fertilized egg splits after conception. The resulting twins are in a high school drama class; she spent three years as a stage the same sex and genetically alike, with similar foot and manager, and began writing hand prints, but different fingerprints and teeth marks.The plays in her senior year. egg then splits into two genetically identical halves. They She attended Catholic share 100% of their genes. University, and received her In their book The Sibling Bond, Stephen P. Bank and PhD in Theatre from Michael D. Kahn describe twins as: Cornell University. Since ...siblings who always have an innate sixth sense about 1985, she has been the one another, even to the extent that they think they director of the playwriting magically know each other’s thoughts, feelings, wishes program at Brown and inner most secrets. University in Rhode Island. Twins offer striking illustrations of what can occur This program is now when boundaries of separateness between any siblings considered one of the become fuzzy, when mirroring and fusing [of country’s best. personalities] predominate. Fused by being put in the Paula Vogel’s plays are same playpen, bathed and fed together, and encouraged provocative. They deal with by their parents to stay and play together, twins become complex social issues such emotionally intertwined... as AIDS, sexual abuse, and Twins can, however, develop serious problems with gender stereotypes, in ego boundaries. Cycles of intense fighting and intense equally complex ways. Her plays also defy traditional theatre affection often dominate their relationship; yet they logic—they often attempt to stage the impossible. They call often appear to be unable to live without each other. the conventions of theater into question, in order to call society into question. Many anecdotes exist Vogel has written over 20 plays. Her plays have been about twins who are separated performed at theatres throughout the US, Canada, England, at birth. When reunited, these Brazil, Chile and Spain, and have won her numerous twins often arrive wearing the awards. The Baltimore Waltz, a poignant satire of the AIDS same clothes, or having similar epidemic, won an Obie (Off-Broadway Award) for Best haircuts. They often find that Play in 1992. Her best known play, How I Learned to Drive, details of their lives are similar. an exploration of the effects of sexual abuse, earned her They may have married the 1998 Pulitzer Prize. persons with the same name, or chosen the same name for In the scene shop their children. They like the Labor estimates for The Mineola Twins: same foods and movies. Scenery: 1375 man hours Such anecdotes have led to Props: 525 man hours the common perception that Scenic painting: 235 man hours twins have a special Assembling the set on stage, rigging, etc.: 160 man hours supernatural bond. Striking the set after production: 90 man hours — Megan Smithling l Ray Kroc buys a hamburger franchise l In Montgomery, Alabama, a l The Committee for a Sane Nuclear l The U.S.S.R. sets off from the McDonald brothers and launches bus boycott organized by Martin Policy (SANE), an anti-nuclear protest an international, space-age an empire of golden arches. Harland Luther King brings the young organization, is created. buzz when it launches a Sanders begins his Kentucky Fried Chicken preacher into the national eye. l Jack Kerouac’s On the Road is rocket with two monkeys franchise.