A SAMUEL FRENCH, LTD. TITLE

The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds

Full-Length Play, Drama  /  5w

Paul Zindel

One of
Off-Broadway's greatest successes, this powerful and moving study of an
embittered, vindictive widow and her two young daughters has been hailed
as one of the most significant and affecting plays of the 20th century.

The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds

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  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    5w
Accolades
Accolades
  • Winner! 1971 Pulitzer Prize for Drama
    Winner! 1970 Obie Award, Best American Play
    Winner! 1970 New York Drama Critics Circle Award, Best American Play

Details

Summary

Supporting herself and her two daughters by taking in a decrepit old boarder, acid-tongued Beatrice Hunsdorfer wreaks a petty vengeance on everyone around her. Her older daughter, Ruth, is a pretty but highly strung girl subject to convulsions, while her younger girl, Tillie, plain and almost pathologically shy, demonstrates an intuitive gift for science. Encouraged by her teacher, Tillie conducts a botanical experiment, winning a prize at her high school. Proud but jealous, too filled with her own hurt to accept her daughter's success, Beatrice can only maim when she needs to love and deride when she intends to praise. Yet, as Tillie's experiment proves, something beautiful and full of promise can emerge from even the most barren, afflicted soil.

History
The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds premiered Off-Broadway at the Mercer Arts Center on April 7, 1970 and closed on May 14, 1972, after 819 performances. Sada Thompson and Pamela Payton-Wright starred under the direction of Melvin Bernhardt. A film adaptation was released in 1972, directed by Paul Newman, starring his wife Joanne Woodward and daughter Nell Potts. On March 9, 1978, the play opened on Broadway at the Biltmore Theatre, directed by A. J. Antoon, starring Shelley Winters and Carol Kane.
Keywords
Performing Groups
Beatrice Hunsdorfer – Tillie's and Ruth's mother. Self-loathing, cynical and abusive.
Tillie Hunsdorfer – A quiet and introverted teen, she immerses herself in science.
Janice Vickery – Tillie's rival at the science fair.
Nanny – An elderly and silent boarder in the Hunsdorfer household.
Ruth Hunsdorfer – Tillie's older sister. A brash but confused adolescent, she suffers from epilepsy.
  • Time Period 1970s
  • Setting Beatrice's home in a lower-middle-class neighborhood of a rundown city. 1970.
  • Features Period Costumes

Media

“A great human drama.” – New York Daily News

“Let's start with a single, simple word. Power… I don't know of a better [play] of its genre since The Glass Menagerie.” – New York Post

“The play itself is one of the lucky blooms; it survives, and is beautiful.” – New York Times

“Off-Broadway has been gifted with a great human drama.” – New York Daily News

Licensing & Materials

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Authors

Paul Zindel

Paul Zindel

Paul Zindel (1936-2003), who drew on memories of his troubled childhood on Staten Island for a prize-winning play with a tongue-twisting title, The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, was born on May 15, 1936, in Tottenville, Staten Island. His father was a pol ...

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