The Shadow Box

Play

Writers: Michael Cristofer

Overview

Show Information

Category
Play
Number of Acts
2
Tony Award®
Best Play 1977
First Produced
1977
Genres
Drama
Settings
Multiple Settings, Unit/Single Set
Time & Place
1970s, california, a hospital, hospice cottages
Cast Size
medium
Licensor
Ideal for
College/University, Community Theatre, Ensemble Cast, Professional Theatre, Regional Theatre
Casting Notes

Includes adult, mature adult, early teen, elderly characters

Synopsis

Joe, Brian, and Felicity come from different walks of life, different parts of the country, and are in different stages of accepting the things they have in common: they are all dying of cancer, and they are all living out their final days, in company with friends and family, in homey hospice cottages on the green and pleasant grounds of a large California hospital. They are observed, studied, and counseled by an invisible Interviewer as they talk candidly about their emotional and physical struggles, and face interpersonal challenges: Joe’s wife Maggie, in denial about her husband’s impending death, refuses to go inside his cottage; artistic Brian, busy trying to write and paint enough for twelve lifetimes, must mediate between his ex-wife Beverly and his boyfriend Mark; and Felicity, confused and in pain, refuses to die until she gets a visit from her daughter Claire -- a daughter who has been dead for years. Michael Cristofer’s sensitive, emotionally devastating, ground-breaking play exploring the end of life experience won both a Tony Award for Best Play and a Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1977.

Lead Characters


The Shadow Box guide sections