BOOKS BY JOHN PATRICK SHANLEY AVAILABLE FROM TCG
Defiance
Dirty Story and Other Plays
ALSO INCLUDES:
Where’s My Money?
Sailor’s Song
Doubt, a parable
Outside Mullingar
Prodigal Son
Storefront Church
Prodigal Son is copyright © 2016 by John Patrick Shanley
Prodigal Son is published by Theatre Communications Group, Inc.,
520 Eighth Avenue, 24th Floor, New York, NY 10018-4156
All rights reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in newspaper, magazine, radio or television reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.
Professionals and amateurs are hereby warned that this material, being fully protected under the Copyright Laws of the United States of America and all other countries of the Berne and Universal Copyright Conventions, is subject to a royalty. All rights, including but not limited to, professional, amateur, recording, motion picture, recitation, lecturing, public reading, radio and television broadcasting, and the rights of translation into foreign languages are expressly reserved. Particular emphasis is placed on the question of readings and all uses of this book by educational institutions, permission for which must be secured from the author’s representative: George Lane, Creative Artists Agency, 405 Lexington Avenue, 19th Floor, New York, NY 10174, (212) 277-9000.
The publication of Prodigal Son by John Patrick Shanley, through TCG’s Book Program, is made possible in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.
TCG books are exclusively distributed to the book trade by Consortium Book Sales and Distribution.
Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-55936-852-0 (ebook)
Book design and composition by Lisa Govan
Cover design by John Gall
Cover photo by Imelda Kahuni/EyeEm
Author photo by Monique Carboni
First Edition, March 2016
Contents
Preface
Production History
Characters
Scene 1
Scene 2
Scene 3
Scene 4
Scene 5
Scene 6
Scene 7
Scene 8
Scene 9
Scene 10
In 1965 I arrived, a very troubled youth, at a private school in New Hampshire called Thomas More Preparatory School. Fifty-five boys were sequestered on a five-hundred-acre reservation on a mountaintop, for the purpose of education. I was from the Bronx, rather violent, a bit delusional, hungry for all kinds of things, and wild-eyed as a rescue dog. The teachers were all male save one, the headmaster’s wife, Louise Schmitt, and she taught one other boy and me in her home. Our subject was The Waste Land, and we studied it through a long winter and into the spring. I felt I didn’t understand the poem, and I didn’t care. I had seen a picture of T. S. Eliot, and I didn’t like the look of him. He wasn’t for me because I didn’t want to be him. That was how I judged poets then.
This play is my account of that time, the period during which my whole life was being decided. It is a true story for the most part. The changes I’ve made have been to simplify or make a point.
Most of the names remain unchanged, or only slightly altered. I wish you could have been there. I wish more generally that you could have shared my whole life with me, so we could discuss and compare. These plays I write are the best I can do to make that possible.
—JPS
The world premiere of Prodigal Son was produced by Manhattan Theatre Club (Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director; Barry Grove, Executive Director) in New York City on February 9, 2016. It was directed by John Patrick Shanley. The scenic design was by Santo Loquasto, the costume design was by Jennifer von Mayrhauser, the lighting design was by Natasha Katz, the sound design was by Fitz Patton and original music was composed by Paul Simon. The cast was:
| JIM QUINN | Timothée Chalamet |
| MR. CARL SCHMITT | Chris McGarry |
| MR. ALAN HOFFMAN | Robert Sean Leonard |
| AUSTIN LORD SCHMITT | David Potters |
| LOUISE SCHMITT | Annika Boras |
JIM QUINN
MR. CARL SCHMITT
MR. ALAN HOFFMAN
AUSTIN LORD SCHMITT
LOUISE SCHMITT
SETTING/PLACE
A boys’ prep school in New Hampshire.
Music establishes quiet tension. A spotlight. There’s a paperback on the floor. Jim Quinn enters from the surrounding dark, picks up the book. He’s in a white shirt, navy sports jacket, black pants, oxfords, skinny black tie. He’s from the Bronx, and sounds it. He quietly says to the audience:
JIM: I always had a book. I was fifteen. Do you remember fifteen? For me, it was a special, beautiful room in Hell.
(More light. Sound of a train.)
I came by train. Mr. Schmitt and I met at a diner in Keene, New Hampshire. 1965.
(Carl Schmitt enters, crew cut, New England reserve, early forties, also in a jacket and tie. He and Jim sit in a diner booth. Carl figures out Jim’s credits on a napkin. They have a stainless steel pot of tea. Jim forgets the audience.)
MR. SCHMITT: Jim.
JIM: Mr. Schmitt!
MR. SCHMITT: I read your transcript, Jim. You’ve had a pretty bumpy two years.
JIM: Yes, I guess I have.
MR. SCHMITT: Can I ask you something?
JIM: Sure.
MR. SCHMITT: It says you were suspended for saying you didn’t believe in God. Is that true?
JIM: It’s true that I said it, but I didn’t mean it.
MR. SCHMITT: Then why did you say it?
JIM: