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Father Comes Home From the Wars, Parts 1, 2 & 3

  • Suzan-Lori Parks
  • Full Length Play, Drama, American Civil War Era
  • 8M, 2F
  • ISBN: 9780573704109

Father Comes Home From The Wars is an explosively powerful drama about the mess of war, the cost of freedom, and the heartbreak of love, with all three parts seen in one night.

More information

Description

  • Full Length Play
  • Drama
  • 120 minutes

  • Time Period: American Civil War Era
  • Target Audience: Teen (Age 14 - 18), Adult
  • Set Requirements: Unit Set/Multiple Settings
  • Cautions: Mild Adult Themes

  • Performance Group:
  • Community Theatre, Professional Theatre, Blackbox / Second Stage /Fringe Groups, Large Stage

  • Accolades:
  • Winner! 2015 Edward M. Kennedy Prize for a theatrical work inspired by American history
    Winner! 2015 Obie Award for Playwriting
    Nominee! 2015 Lucille Lortel Award - Outstanding Play
    Finalist! 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama
Offered his freedom if he joins his master in the ranks of the Confederacy, Hero, a slave, must choose whether to leave the woman and people he loves for what may be yet another empty promise. As his decision brings him face-to-face with a nation at war with itself, the loved ones Hero left behind debate whether to escape or wait for his return... only to discover for Hero, free will may have come at a great spiritual cost.

Father Comes Home From The Wars is an explosively powerful drama about the mess of war, the cost of freedom, and the heartbreak of love, with all three parts seen in one night. Part 1 introduces us to Hero, a slave who must choose whether or not to join his master on the Confederate battlefield. In Part 2, a band of rebel soldiers test Hero's loyalty as the cannons approach. Part 3 finds Hero's loved ones anxiously awaiting his return.

A devastatingly beautiful dramatic work filled with music, wit, and great lyricism, Father Comes Home From The Wars is an epic tale about holding on to who we are and what we love in a country that both brings us together and rips us apart from one of America's most powerful writers.
REVIEWS:

"Extraordinary! By turns philosophical and playful, lyrical and earthy, Suzan-Lori Parks's new play swoops, leaps, dives and soars across three endlessly stimulating hours, reimagining a turbulant turning point in American history through a cockeyed contemporary lens. The finest work yet from this gifted writer... The wonder of Ms. Parks's achievement is how smoothly she blends the high and the low, the serious and the humerous, the melodramatic and the grittily realistic. At once an epic poem, a moving personal drama about one man's soul struggle, and a seriocomic mediation on liberty, loyalty and identity."

 The New York Times

"Thrilling! A masterpiece. Heartbreakingly individual, in just the way that history itself is... Suzan-Lori Parks exquisitely twists the plot. She makes us feel as if we are seeing the dreadful dilemmas not just of slavery but of emancipation for the first time."

 New York Magazine

"Grade A... Stunning. That rare work of art that bears the heavy burden of its subject matter, but carries it lightly... Suzan-Lori Parks brings the full force of her dramatic power. She elevates her themes with echoes of classic literature while at the same time doubling down on comedy."

 Entertainment Weekly

"Provocative, rich and irreverently funny."

 New York Post

"Brilliant, beautiful & stunning... This haunting work is funny and tragic, whimsical and lacerating, poetic and poignant, navigating its radical tonal shifts with fluidity and grace. It plugs historical experience directly into the socket of contemporary life."

 The Hollywood Reporter

"Triumphant! Overloaded with soaring language and provocative debate."

 Huffington Post

Premiere Production: Father Comes Home From The Wars (Parts 1,2, & 3) was developed at the Public Theater Lab in 2009, and the play received its premiere production in 2014 at The Public Theater, under the direction of Jo Bonney.

Characters

  • Casting: 8M, 2F
  • Casting Attributes: Reduced casting (Doubling Possible), Ensemble cast, Flexible casting, Multicultural casting, Strong Role for Leading Man (Star Vehicle), Role(s) for Black Actor(s)

  • PART ONE
    The CHORUS of Less Than Desirable Slaves:
    LEADER
    SECOND
    THIRD
    FOURTH
    THE OLDEST OLD MAN
    HERO
    PENNY
    HOMER


  • PART TWO
    A COLONEL - in the Rebel Army
    SMITH - a captive Union Soldier
    HERO - the Colonel's Slave


  • PART THREE
    THE RUNAWAY SLAVES
    HOMER
    PENNY
    ODYSSEY DOG
    ULYSSES

    • Available Material

    Name Price
    Father Comes Home From the Wars, Parts 1, 2 & 3 Script This is optional. Order Now

    Offered his freedom if he joins his master in the ranks of the Confederacy, Hero, a slave, must choose whether to leave the woman and people he loves for what may be yet another empty promise. As his decision brings him face-to-face with a nation at war with itself, the loved ones Hero left behind debate whether to escape or wait for his return... only to discover for Hero, free will may have come at a great spiritual cost.

    Father Comes Home From The Wars is an explosively powerful drama about the mess of war, the cost of freedom, and the heartbreak of love, with all three parts seen in one night. Part 1 introduces us to Hero, a slave who must choose whether or not to join his master on the Confederate battlefield. In Part 2, a band of rebel soldiers test Hero's loyalty as the cannons approach. Part 3 finds Hero's loved ones anxiously awaiting his return.

    A devastatingly beautiful dramatic work filled with music, wit, and great lyricism, Father Comes Home From The Wars is an epic tale about holding on to who we are and what we love in a country that both brings us together and rips us apart from one of America's most powerful writers.


    		 $24.95

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