alphabetical author index

The Music Lesson

  • Tammy Ryan
  • Full Length Play, Drama
  • 2M, 4F
  • ISBN: MD8

"...impressive... [an] impassioned new play...a tale of teachers and students educating each other, reaching across a gulf of cultures and generations for a common understanding through music."

Palm Beach Post

  • Full Length Play
  • Drama
  • 105 minutes

  • Target Audience: Pre-Teen (Age 11 - 13), Teen (Age 14 - 18), Adult, Appropriate for all audiences
  • Set Requirements: Bare Stage/Simple Set

  • Performance Group:
  • Community Theatre, College Theatre / Student, High School/Secondary

  • Accolades:
  • Winner! 2005 AATE Distinguished Play Award (Upper/Secondary)
    Winner! IUPUI Bonderman Award
    Winner! Carbonell Award for Best Production
Weaving together the music of Bach, with memories of the Bosnian War and the universal conflicts between teacher and student, The Music Lesson tells the story of Irena and her husband Ivan, two musicians who escaped the war in Sarajevo to start a new life in Pittsburgh.

When Ivan meets Mrs. Johnson, a recently divorced single mother, at the local grocery store, he brings home two new students: 10-year-old Eddie, a talented violin student, and the unwilling Kat, his 14-year-old sister. While her passion for music and the students she taught helped Irena survive the war, she now stands torn between Maja, the 12-year-old piano prodigy she left behind in Sarajevo, and Kat, the bright but angry American teenager who wants to learn, but resists her teaching.

Shifting elegantly from past to present and resonating with powerful music, this is the tale of two countries, two families, two generations and the ways they teach and heal each other. 

REVIEWS:

"...impressive... [an] impassioned new play... a tale of teachers and students educating each other, reaching across a gulf of cultures and generations for a common understanding through music."

 Palm Beach Post

"The Music Lesson will prove to be one of the year's most important, thought-provoking and heartfelt new plays... [an] impressive drama."

 Sun-Sentinel, South Florida

"Sensational... Don't miss this music lesson. You'll be the richer for it."

 Daily News, Palm Beach

  • Casting: 2M, 4F

Name Price
The Music Lesson Script Order Now

Weaving together the music of Bach, with memories of the Bosnian War and the universal conflicts between teacher and student, The Music Lesson tells the story of Irena and her husband Ivan, two musicians who escaped the war in Sarajevo to start a new life in Pittsburgh. When Ivan meets Mrs. Johnson, a recently divorced single mother, at the local grocery store, he brings home two new students: 10-year-old Eddie, a talented violin student, and the unwilling Kat, his 14-year-old sister. While her passion for music and the students she taught helped Irena survive the war, she now stands torn between Maja, the 12-year-old piano prodigy she left behind in Sarajevo, and Kat, the bright but angry American teenager who wants to learn, but resists her teaching. Shifting elegantly from past to present and resonating with powerful music, this is the tale of two countries, two families, two generations and the ways they teach and heal each other. A winner of the IUPUI Bonderman Award and a Carbonell Award for Best Production. First-rate family drama' We hear what it's like to be a teenager in a civil war' (Philadelphia City Paper) 'a play of vital theatricality, rich in vivid and resonant images. (Arcade Suburban Publications, Pennsylvania) 'a beautifully told story about healing and hope. (Main Line Times, Pennsylvania) Single set. Approximate running time: 1 hour, 45 minutes.

$19.95