Overview
Synopsis
How far would a man go to protect his family, his interests, and his legacy? Joe Keller, the patriarch in All My Sons, desperately wants to secure and maintain the financial security and legacy he spent so many years building, ready to hand it down to his surviving son Chris. At the same time, Joe’s wife Kate is still waiting for their eldest son Larry to return from war, determined that he is alive and will marry the former girl-next-door, Ann --the daughter of Joe’s former business partner who is sitting in prison, punished for Joe’s crimes. To complicate this family drama, Chris and Ann are in love and want to get married. In All My Sons, Arthur Miller creates a post-war American family in a tragic downfall of lies, greed, love, and loss, and demands its audience examine their own social responsibilities to all the sons of American wars.
Show Information
- Book
- Arthur Miller
- Category
- Play
- Age Guidance
- Thirteen Plus (PG-13)
- Number of Acts
- 3
- First Produced
- 1947
- Genres
- Drama
- Settings
- Period, Unit/Single Set
- Time & Place
- keller family backyard, 1947
- Cast Size
- medium
- Licensor
- Concord Theatricals
- Ideal For
- Community Theatre, High School, Professional Theatre, Regional Theatre, Theatre, Mostly Male Cast, Includes Adult, Mature Adult, Young Adult, Child Characters, Medium Cast
Context
Arthur Miller’s All My Sons premiered in 1947 at the Coronet Theatre in New York City. Largely considered Miller’s first commercially successful play, All My Sons picks up on the post-war grief and anger of the 1940s, and is in fact based on a true story. The Curtiss-Wright Aeronautical Corporation, based in Ohio, was under government contract to produce airplane engine parts during World War II. Because of the high demand and immediate need for these parts, and a bit of financial greed,
to read the context for All My Sons and to unlock other amazing theatre resources!Plot
Act One
It is late summer in 1947. Joe and Kate Keller have welcomed their former neighbor’s daughter, Ann, for a sudden visit. The play begins the morning after a strong thunderstorm which has destroyed an apple tree in the yard - a tree that was planted as a memorial to Larry Keller, the eldest son who disappeared in battle. The Kellers’ neighbor Frank stops by, assuring Kate that he has almost figured out their Larry’s horoscope. Kate is determined for proof that Larry could not have
to read the plot for All My Sons and to unlock other amazing theatre resources!Characters
| Name | Part Size | Gender | Vocal Part |
|---|---|---|---|
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Lead |
Male |
Spoken |
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Lead |
Female |
Spoken |
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Lead |
Male |
Spoken |
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|
Lead |
Female |
Spoken |
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|
Supporting |
Male |
Spoken |
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|
Supporting |
Female |
Spoken |
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|
Supporting |
Male |
Spoken |
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|
Featured |
Male |
Spoken |
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|
Featured |
Female |
Spoken |
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Featured |
Male |
Spoken |
Songs
A song with an asterisk (*) before the title indicates a dance number; a character listed in a song with an asterisk (*) by the character's name indicates that the character exclusively serves as a dancer in this song, which is sung by other characters.
Monologues
Scenes
Key Terms
A play that centers around the downfall of the main character through tragic actions and events.
Videos
Quizzes
Themes, Symbols & Motifs
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Quote Analysis
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Guide Written By:
Cindi Calhoun
Theatre teacher, director, writer, and seamstress