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The Happy Journey to Trenton and Camden

Short Play, Dramatic Comedy  /  3w, 3m

Thornton Wilder

A father, mother and two of their three surviving children drive from Newark, New Jersey to Camden to visit their married daughter, who has recently lost her baby in childbirth.

The Happy Journey to Trenton and Camden

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  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    3w, 3m
  • Duration
    Duration
    30 minutes
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Not Applicable
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Appropriate for All Audiences, Adult, Senior, Children (Age 6-10), Pre-Teen (Age 11-13), Teen (Age 14-18)

Details

Summary
A father, mother and two of their three surviving children drive from Newark, New Jersey to Camden to visit their married daughter, who has recently lost her baby in childbirth. Their journey is punctuated by talk, laughter, memories (some mundane, some happy, some painful) and appreciation of the Now – ham and eggs, flowers, family, sunsets and the joy of being alive. In this family drama, nothing much happens, yet everything important happens. As Ma Kirby says, “There's nothin' like bein' liked by your family.”
History
The Happy Journey to Trenton and Camden was first produced on November 25, 1931, at the Yale University theater in New Haven, Connecticut, by the Yale Dramatic Association and the Vassar College Philalethis, with The Long Christmas Dinner, Love and How to Cure It and Such Things Only Happen in Books.

Keywords
Performing Groups

THE STAGE MANAGER
MA – Mrs. Kate Kirby
ARTHUR – 13, her son
CAROLINE – 15, her daughter
PA
BEULAH – 22, the Kirbys' married daughter who lives in Camden, New Jersey

Note: This play can be also cast using 1 boy, 1 girl, 2 male adults and 2 female adults.

Alternatively, this play can be cast using 1 boy, 1 girl, and 2 male adults, and 2 female adults.

  • Time Period 1930s
  • Features Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes, Period Costumes
  • Additional Features Mime
  • Duration 30 minutes
  • Cautions
    • No Special Cautions

Media

“It should constantly be borne in mind that the purpose of this play is the portrayal of the character of Ma Kirby, the author at one time having even considered entitling the play The Portrait of a Lady. Accordingly, the director should constantly keep in mind that Ma Kirby's humor, strength and humanity constitute the unifying element throughout. This aspect should always rise above the merely humorous characteristic details of the play.” – Thornton Wilder, "Notes for the Producer," 1931

“My earlier one-act plays, before Our Town, were free of scenery too and things went back and forth in time...In my plays I attempted to raise ordinary daily conversation between ordinary people to the level of the universal human experience.” – Thornton Wilder, from an interview with Bob McCoy, 1974

ON BREAKING CHARACTER

The Women of Wilder
by Annette Storckman
June 4, 2019

Videos

  • Thornton Wilder: It's Time youtube thumbnail

    Thornton Wilder: It's Time

Music

  • Musical Style N/A (Not a musical)
  • Vocal DemandsN/A (Not a musical)

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: £30 per performance plus VAT when applicable.
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Authors

Thornton Wilder

Thornton Wilder

Thornton Wilder (1897-1975), born in Madison, Wisconsin, and educated at Yale and Princeton, was an accomplished novelist and playwright whose works explore the connection between the commonplace and the cosmic dimensions of human experience. The Bridge of San Luis Rey, one ...

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