Overview
Synopsis
On Golden Pond is a classic American comedic drama that's every bit as touching, warm, and witty today as when it debuted off Broadway in 1978. Retired couple Ethel and Norman Thayer are spending their 48th summer at their vacation home on Golden Pond, in the woods of Maine. Their delightful summer routine--fishing, picking strawberries, enjoying old mementoes, listening to the loons call--is given a bitterly comedic edge by Norman’s unreliable memory and cantankerously morbid statements. When their daughter Chelsea visits for Norman’s 80th birthday, bringing her boyfriend Bill and Bill’s teenage son, Billy Jr., the whole family must come to grips with Norman and Chelsea’s mutual bitterness, while Norman blossoms with his chance to mentor young Billy. The turbulent relationship between father and daughter, the generation gap between young and old, and the difficulties of a couple in the twilight years of a long marriage, all combine in a play that effortlessly illustrates the hilarious, heartbreaking, human moments of which life is made.
Show Information
- Book
- Ernest Thompson
- Category
- Play
- Age Guidance
- Youth (Y)/General Audiences (G)
- Number of Acts
- 2
- First Produced
- 1978
- Genres
- Drama, Comedy
- Settings
- Unit/Single Set
- Time & Place
- 1970s, a Summer House, Maine, USA
- Cast Size
- small
- Licensor
- Dramatists Play Service
- Ideal For
- Community Theatre, Professional Theatre, Regional Theatre, Small Cast, Star Vehicle Female, Star Vehicle Male, Mostly Male Cast, Includes Mature Adult, Elderly, Adult, Child, Early Teen, Late Teen Characters
Context
Ernest Thompson’s On Golden Pond was first produced Off Broadway by the Hudson Guild Theatre Company, opening on September 13, 1978, and running for 36 performances. It was directed by Craig Anderson, and featured Tom Aldredge as Norman Thayer and Frances Sternhagen as Ethel Thayer. Other actors Ronn Carroll,, Stan Lachow, and Mark Bendo. Opening on Broadway at the New Apollo Theatre on February 28, 1979, with the role of Chelsea now played by Barbara Andres but an otherwise unaltered cast,
to read the context for On Golden Pond and to unlock other amazing theatre resources!Plot
Act One
On an early afternoon in the middle of May, in the late 1970s, Norman and Ethel Thayer arrive for a summer in their vacation home on Golden Pond, a body of water in the woods of Maine. Norman enters, knocks over the screen door to the front door, which is broken, and proceeds to pick up the phone and call the operator, asking for a call-back to see if the phone still rings. He argues with the operator, looks around the house, tries to identify people in photographs. Ethel knocks
to read the plot for On Golden Pond 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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Supporting |
Male |
Spoken |
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Supporting |
Female |
Spoken |
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|
Supporting |
Male |
Spoken |
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Supporting |
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
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Videos
Quizzes
Themes, Symbols & Motifs
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Quote Analysis
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