Hancock, who has the toughest challenge of playing both hero and villain, occasionally seems underpowered. He concludes with a stern reminder that, "God never made man to be a slave" (p. 60). Jacobs-Jenkins developed his take on The Octoroon while he was a Dorothy Strelsin Fellow at Soho Rep in the 2009/10 season. Despite her deep concern for Ramsey's welfare, she found happiness in her marriage to Henry Picquet, a mulatto. Gain full access to show guides, character breakdowns, auditions, monologues and more! Another man called MClosky went through the courts and away went a thousand acres of Terrebonne to him. Though she remained enslaved and unmarried, Julia bore him two daughters. An Octoroon begins with a prologue, in which a surrogate for the author, BJJ, introduces himself to the audience as a Black playwright, a label he doesnt fully comprehend. While posing, MClosky comes from behind and kills Paul to take the letter. Similar classifications were octoroon for one-eighth black (Latin root octo-, means "eight") and quintroon for one-sixteenth black. She is the so-called illegitimate (not produced by marriage) daughter of a plantation owner named Mr. Peyton and one of his slaves on this plantation, which is called Terrebonne. Mrs. Peyton, for instance, refers to her slaves black ungainly faces (32) even as she extols her love for them, while Scudder speaks directly of the protection, forbearance, gentleness and other goods that show the critters the difference between the Christian and the savage (72). The female "tragic octoroon" was a stock character of abolitionist literature: a light-skinned woman, raised in her father's household as though she were white, until his bankruptcy or death has her reduced to a menial position and sold. Ends Sept. 19Info: (323) 663-1525 or www.FountainTheatre.comPrice: $25 $45; Pay-What-You-Want on Monday nights, subject to availability.Running time: 2 hours, 30 minutes. In comparison, a quadroon would have one quarter African ancestry and a mulatto for the most part has historically implied half African ancestry. The evil McClosky desires her for himself, opposed by the sincere love for her by George, the heir to the family fortune. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Dora falls in love with George, but George loves Zoe. In May 1860, Mattison met with Picquet to help her raise money to free her mother from bondage. After they leave, MClosky reveals he actually hates the Peytons and vows to sweep [them] from this section of the country (33). With Dora's wealth, he explains, Terrebonne will not be sold and the slaves will not have to be separated. Bartleby the Scrivener, A Tale of Wall Street. Set in the pre-Civil War South, The Octoroon deals heavily with racial themes. Text for each Image of the Week is written by Sheldon Cheek. Then Playwright and Assistant put on redface and blackface paint. Bachelor. The work had won instant acclaim for its creator and became the touchstone for the aesthetic representation of slavery in the imagination of the day. eNotes.com will help you with any book or any question. Boucicault adapted the play from the novel The Quadroon by Thomas Mayne Reid (1856). Salem Scudder, a northerner who has been serving as the plantation's overseer, bears some responsibility for the poor state of affairs at Terrebonne. MClosky then enters and it is immediately clear the group does not like him. The aesthetic effect of the figure is essentially theatrical, encouraging the strongly empathetic participation of the viewer with both form and meaning. The slaves PETE, MINNIE, and DIDO are sold to a steamboat captain, RATTS. Mary Elizabeth Braddon (4 October 1835 - 4 February 1915) was an English popular novelist of the Victorian era. The young Frenchman when he meets Eveline falls madly in love with her in spite of the fact that . Picquet was born into a lineage of sexual victimization and strong maternal dedication. Being considered one-eighth black, she is called an "octoroon." During this time, Louisa's mother was repeatedly impregnated by Cook; her mother was "pretty white; not white for white people" though (p. 8). To notify all her donors, in 1860, Louisa put a notice in the Daily Gazetter telling of her mother's safe arrival in Cincinnati. To that end, every now and again an actor dressed as a rabbit makes a surreal cameo. Where larger, better funded theaters in Los Angeles have played it safe, the Fountain has made room for bold, boundary-breaking drama. George leaves to go hunting and calls a young slave boy, Paul, who brings his Native American friend Wahnotee. Present in An Octoroon is the illusion of suffering and actual suffering. The Octoroon Dion Boucicault 2.66 431 ratings47 reviews This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Boucicault), transforms himself into the Native American character Wahnotee by smearing his face with red makeup. eNotes Editorial. It concerns the residents of a Louisiana plantation called Terrebonne, and sparked debates about the abolition of slavery and the role of theatre in politics. Note: When citing an online source, it is important to include all necessary dates. MClosky asks Scudder to help him, but he instead simply gives him his bowie knife and leaves him to his own defenses. Back at Terrebonne, Zoe returns but with a sad heart, as she knows that she and George can never be together. 1828?- and Hiram Mattison, 1811-1868 Sign up today to unlock amazing theatre resources and opportunities. Zoe heads out to the slave quarters to ask Dido for poison. All scenes are property and copyright of their owners. Extremely popular, the play was kept running continuously for years by seven road companies. If there are two dates, the date of publication and appearance The play is an adaptation of Dion Boucicault's 1859 abolitionist melodrama retold through Jacobs-Jenkins eyes. This led Jacobs-Jenkins to see doubles and pairs in Boucicault's play, through relationships between characters e.g. The group immediately calls for his lynching, but they agree to try him first. Take a look at our library of free monologues . MClosky escapes while being taken to justice but is confronted and killed by Wahnotee. Tragic mulatta. The Octoroon is a play by Dion Boucicault that opened in 1859 at The Winter Garden Theatre, New York City. When Cook got in trouble with creditors he fled with his slaves to Mobile, Alabama. Zoe enters to say goodbye to Dora and George but faints and tells George to give her the poisonous liquid, claiming its a restorative (73). Besides race, what are some representations of slaves and slavery that are not complicity with the dominant ideology of this time? However, enough funds were raised between Mattison's interview with Picquet and the narrative's publication that Mattison includes, at the end, a notice published in the Cincinnati Daily Gazette on October 15, 1860 explaining that Ramsey had been freed from slavery. Sara Krulwich/The New York Times. Part 1. George proposes to Dora, but Zoe confesses their love, which turns off Dora. Witnesses offer conflicting accounts, Mars Voltas lead singer broke with Scientology and reunited with the band. George does not care about her mixed racial ancestry and wishes to marry her, despite the illegality of a mixed-race marriage. [] George, you may, without a blush, confess your love for the Octoroon (75). In 1867, she moved her family to New Richmond, Ohio where she stayed until her death in 1896. Picquet was sold to Williams of New Orleans and her mother was sold to Texas. Mr. Peyton believed that he had freed his daughter, Zoe, but because he had already incurred a lien on the property, she wasnt his property to free. Quadroon. Zoe is then put up for sale during the slave auction, and despite bids from George, Mr. Sunnyside, and Doraand George pulling a knifeMClosky buys her for $25,000. Later, Mattison returned to the Methodist Episcopal Church in Jersey City and remained with the congregation until his death on November 24th, 1868. Mattison resumed pastoral work in Watertown, New York in 1842 and then in Rome, New York in 1844. Enfolded in the mortgage melodrama of a Louisiana plantation is a love story involving George, the young romantic heir of the estate, and the illegitimate daughter of the dead patriarch, Zoe, who was raised at Terrebonne as part of the family. George reluctantly agrees. "The Octoroon" tells the late of when In the deep south of 1850's USA, an octoroon is given her freedom by her white father but is later bought as a slave by the evil Jacob McCloskey. The title of the play refers to a character named Zoe. The Octoroon Dion Boucicault 36-page comprehensive study guide Chapter-by-chapter summaries and multiple sections of expert analysis The ultimate resource for assignments, engaging lessons, and lively book discussions Access Full Guide Download Save The Octoroon Themes Racial Identification and Discrimination Yet when the staging must focus attention on an image encapsulating the evil violence of Americas racist past, a picture is not just found but held for a length of time that makes it impossible to look away. Decent Essays. The last date is today's Research Playwrights, Librettists, Composers and Lyricists. Paul's best friend, the Indian Wahnotee, discovers Paul's body; he can speak only poor English, however, and is unable to communicate the tragedy to anyone else. Boucicault's manuscript actually reads "Indian, French and 'Merican." The narrative begins with a description of Piquet's physical appearance as a passable mulatto to emphasize that despite "at first view, [looking like] an accomplished white lady," she was denied of any rights or liberty given to white women because of her African ancestry (p. 5).
Start your 48-hour free trial to get access to more than 30,000 additional guides and more than 350,000 Homework Help questions answered by our experts. She explains that she felt that because she was committing adultery, she'd "have to die and be lost" (p. 22). But white cast members, offended by the unapologetic racism of their nasty slave-owner characters, dropped out. publication in traditional print. ZOE is declared a slave as well and is put up for sale. All monologues are property and copyright of their owners. Mattison wants everyone to understand that those we think of as "southern gentlemen" are the cause of the "deep moral pollution of the Slave States" (p. 51). Through Brechtian elements such as direct address, Jacobs-Jenkins explores "the idea that you could feel something and then be aware that youre feeling it". Paul was beloved and also valuable, and so the whites want to find what has happened to him. The play was adapted by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins as An Octoroon in 2014. MClosky vows to own that Octoroon (37) and get the mailbag before Paul and Wahnotee, so that he may steal the letter and prevent the Peytons from saving their estate. Though it would hardly seem likely at first glance, this pallid image of slavery directly addresses the condition of black bondage. Last Updated on June 19, 2019, by eNotes Editorial. The Reverend Hiram Mattison (1811-1868) was born on February 8, 1811, in Norway, Herkimer County, New York. [10] Vallejo Gantner, artistic director of PS 122 along with theatre critics Elisabeth Vincentelli and Adam Feldman, argued that although it was not unethical to publish the email, it may not have been "nice" to publish it. Adding to the meta-theatrical fun, Rob Nagle, who plays the part of Playwright (a.k.a. One man, Jacob M'Closky, is driven into such a frenzy by Zoe that he is willing to lie, cheat and kill in order to own her. Zoe calls Dido Mammy, and she puts on a mammy character as they argue. Mattison glosses over this violence, stating that "it is too horrible and indelicate to be read in a civilized country" (p. 15). George Peyton returns to the United States from a trip to France to find that the plantation he has inherited is in dire financial straits as a result of his late uncle's beneficence. Given its 19th century Southern setting, the play is also filled with numerous examples of racial discrimination beyond the institution of slavery, even by the plays more sympathetic characters. McClosky, however, outbids her for Zoe; George is restrained from attacking him by his friends. By extension, the work seems to invite the viewer to ponder the very nature of chattel slavery and its implacable determination by race, just as the issue was being so tempestuously decided in the United States. George and Zoe reveal their love for each other, but Zoe rejects George's marriage proposal. With the judge's death, Zoe loses his protection, and her. A spectacular collision of the antebellum South and 21st-century cultural politics, An Octoroon twists a funhouse world of larger-than-life stereotypes into blistering social . The production was critically acclaimed, winning an Obie Award for best new American play in 2014 (a tie with his previous play, Appropriate). BJJ, trying to wrest himself from a depressive funk, had wanted to investigate what still speaks to him in Boucicaults drama. After 17 years leading L.A.s most important theater company, and after last years racial reckoning, Michael Ritchie says its time to pass the torch. Pete pleads for MClosky to not be lynched, so George demands that M'Closky be taken away, not revenged by Wahnotee, but M'Closky escapes and sets fire to the boat. New York, NY, Escape To Margaritaville
[2] Among antebellum melodramas, it was considered second in popularity only to Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852).[3]. He doesnt want audience members to feel too secure in what theyre seeing. When the play was performed in England it was given a happy ending, in which the mixed-race couple are united. The men begin to call for McClosky to be lynched, but Scudder convinces them to send him to jail instead. The Octoroon was a controversial play when it debuted, given its focus on slavery when the pre-Civil War United States was engaged in a heated debate over the institution. date the date you are citing the material. MClosky, who everyone agrees is awful, falls in love with her, as does George, and Scudder is already in love with her. Therefore, Mattison implores the reader to contribute to the cause if they "can sympathize with this daughter of affliction and victim of relentless oppression, and will rejoice in the opportunity of doing something to help alleviate her sorrow" (p. 48). When Mattison was twenty three, he experienced a profound conversion and shortly after felt called by God to the ministry. Summary and Analysis. Bells conflation of the carved simulacrum of the nude female slave with the theatrically inspired concept of the mixed-race woman glosses the reality of slavery with a more broadly nuanced commentary on the role of race in the self-definition of an entire culture. In An Octoroon, the projection of a "lynching photograph" is an attempt towards an actual experience of finality. George photographs Dora with his camera while she and Zoe plot to make George marry her. MClosky then breaks some tragic news: The bank is foreclosing on their mortgage and Terrebonne is up for sale. Wahnotee tracks him down and confronts him; in the ensuing struggle, Wahnotee kills McClosky. Minnie and Dido realize all the other slaves ran away. Join StageAgent today and unlock amazing theatre resources and opportunities. Print fond memoriesThis pocket Bluetooth printer lets you print your precious memories before they hit Instagram. The story overtly concerns racial identification, making it clear that even a small amount of African American blood would taint a person at that time, making them unable to marry a white person and, depending on their mother (whose status determined whether or not their children are slaves), potentially born into slavery. Where: The Fountain Theatre, 5060 Fountain Ave., L.A.When: 7 p.m. Fridays-Mondays. The second date is today's
The Octoroon or, Life in Louisiana; A Play in Five acts Author: Dion Boucicault Release Date: June 24, 2014 [EBook #46091] Language: English Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 *** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE OCTOROON *** Produced by Roger Burch, from scans obtained from the Internet Archive THE . The term octoroon is thankfully not in circulation anymore, and it is likely that the melodrama would have remained in historys dustbin were it not for Jacobs-Jenkins ambivalent curiosity. George reveals his love to Zoe, who loves him too, and the fact that she is the daughter of a slave does not deter. He received his doctorate in dramaturgy and dramatic criticism from the Yale School of Drama. [1] Assistant announces that the boat explodes. The miracle of vaccines allowed us to come together again, but the Fountain Theatre, acting with foresight and dispatch, turned its parking lot into an outdoor venue to ensure the earliest possible resumption of in-person performance. Through the playful lens of theater, An Octoroon invites us to take a good long look at the cultural history of slavery. Thanks for exploring this SuperSummary Study Guide of The Octoroon by Dion Boucicault. The play then ends with a final image of Wahnotee standing triumphantly at Pauls grave over MCloskys dead body. Perhaps not surprisingly, such informal mixed-race unions in the slave states occurred fairly often, making Zoes situation seem not so unusual after all. Here Mattison asks what her feelings were living with Williams in sin and Picquet discusses her distress. Dora runs off crying, saying: I hate you both (52). Age Range. Nataki Garrett directed the first production of An Octoroon outside of New York with Mixed Blood Theatre Company in the fall of 2015. Download the entire The Octoroon study guide as a printable PDF! Mary Elizabeth Braddon. He has no children with his wife, but he has one daughter, a young woman named Zoe, who is one-eighth blackthe octoroon of the plays titleand who he fathered with a slave (who must have been a quadroon, a person with one-quarter black heritage). A full body orgasm at the L.A. Phil? An Octoroon is a radical, incendiary and subversively funny riff on Dion Boucicault's once-popular 1859 mustache-twirling melodrama set on a Louisiana plantation. So, instead of giving up, he decides to play the white male roles himself. MClosky steals the letter, leaving before Wahnotee finds Pauls dead body and smashes the camera to pieces in grief. [1] Jacobs-Jenkins considers An Octoroon and his other works Appropriate and Neighbors linked in the exploration of theatre, genre, and how theatre interacts with questions of identity, along with how these questions (such as "Why do we think of a social issue as something that can be solved?") Scudder tells Pete to go listen to what the men say about the house, while Mrs. Peyton enters and says shell remain at the house until the law compels her to leave. The group also discusses Zoe, who lives at the estate and is the judges illegitimate child, although Mrs. Peyton loves [her] as if shed been her own child (26). Download the entire The Octoroon study guide as a printable PDF! The play was first produced in 1859, at the Winter Garden Theatre in New York City, and was both controversial because of its sympathetic and human portrayal of slaves before the civil war, and extremely popular from the moment it premiered. [3] A stereo photograph of the original allowed even those of modest means to view it with a convincing illusion of depth. Set on the fictional Terrebonne Plantation in Louisiana, The Octoroon depicts life in the American South with honesty and empathy. publication online or last modification online. [17], Company One Theatre in Boston co-produced the play with ArtsEmerson, directed by Summer L. Williams. George offers to take her to a different country, but Zoe insists that she stay to help Terrebonne; Scudder then appears and suggests that George marry Dora. Chapter-by-chapter summaries and multiple sections of expert analysis, The ultimate resource for assignments, engaging lessons, and lively book discussions. A $300-million (minimum) gondola to Dodger Stadium? In 1835, the year after his conversion, he was a junior preacher in Oswego County, New York after serving as an agent of the American Bible Society in New Jersey. The time is now for the American play, and An Octoroon is just one of many groundbreaking works by women and writers of color. He tells Wah-No-Tee, an Indian and his protector, to remove the cap from the camera. Jacobs-Jenkins reframes Boucicault's play using its original characters and plot, speaking much of Boucicault's dialogue, and critiques its portrayal of race using Brechtian devices. I envy not the proud old Florentine The classic beauties of his Italy; Give me but here to have my glory dream, 'Mid fragrant woods and fieldsby lake and stream. Despite the happiness Zoe stands dying and the play ends with her death on the sitting-room couch and George kneeling beside her. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Coming to an L.A. stage: Proof were in a golden age of American playwriting, Michael Ritchie will retire from Center Theatre Group and make space for a new voice, Hollywood writers strike over streaming pay after talks fail, Models and climate activists hit the streets to protest the star-studded 2023 Met Gala, Gordon Lightfoot, mournful Canadian singer-songwriter, dies at 84, Tim Bachman, founding guitarist of Bachman-Turner Overdrive, dies at 71. He is a prominent figure in Victorian era drama and is said to belong to more than one national literature, Irish, English and the United States. Charles McNulty is the theater critic of the Los Angeles Times. Louisa Picquet, the Octoroon: or Inside Views of Southern Domestic Life (1861) is not so much a narrative as a series of Picquet's first-person answers to Mattison's questions, which seem to have transcribed verbatim, along with his own commentary. This issue arose because at first glance Picquet looked to be "a white lady" (p. 5). To settle his debts, the creditors made Cook sell his slaves, so at thirteen, Picquet was separated from her mother, who was sold to Colonel Albert Clinton Horton of Wharton, while Picquet went to New Orleans with Mr. John Williams. This much-celebrated work by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins toys with the machinery of melodrama, a form that relies on the elaborate sets and over-the-top spectacle of the illusionist stage. The plot focused on Zoe, a young woman who is an octoroon (i.e. Literally, anything can happen. Key Information Character Solon Show The Octoroon Gender Male Age Range Adult, Mature Adult Role Size Ensemble Time & Place mid 1800's, louisiana, plantation terrebonne, mississippi river Tags african-american slave server cook good-natured loyal ensemble southern creole accent Analysis African-American, Southern Creole Accent. The incongruous mix of modern idiom and antebellum narrative fuels the wit of Jacobs-Jenkins project. mid 1800's, louisiana, plantation terrebonne, mississippi river. Lead. The archive and Harvard University Press collaborated to create The Image of the Black in Western Art book series, eight volumes of which were edited by Gates and David Bindman and published by Harvard University Press. Bartleby the Scrivener, A Tale of Wall Street. Between his knavery (according to Scudder) and Scudders own folly, the rest of the plantation is likely to be sold off to cover debts. MClosky, meanwhile, is beginning to go crazy, believing he is being followed (which he is, by Wahnotee). Here, Picquet was hired out by Cook as a nurse and domestic help to a Mr. "Bachelor" whose wife ran the boarding house where Cook stayed. eNotes Editorial. The show that I decided to watch was "An Octoroon" directed by Branden Jacobs Jenkins. The second is the date of 13 According to the formulaic plot that defined the octoroon genre, the enslaved mixed-race beauty was understood to be the product of a sexual relationship between a white male slaveholder and an enslaved woman of African descent. Zoe also uses the same term unlike in the . May-be. He comes across a therapist who recommends adapting his favorite play, The Octoroon by Dion Boucicault, as a jumping off point out of his writers block. Around the statue coalesce concerns about racial mixing in the real world and its effect on both sides of the Atlantic. I feel like it has interesting connections to "Lady Audley's Secret," though. Pete is Paul's grandfather. The stage provided the inspiration for Bells subject. eNotes.com, Inc. This play is set in Creole Louisiana, before the Civil War, on a plantation called Terrebonne. The Octoroon Gender Female Age Range Young Adult, Adult Role Size Lead Time & Place mid 1800's, louisiana, plantation terrebonne, mississippi river Tags southern southern accent romantic passionate innocent soft kind illegitimate child bastard beautiful suicidal gentle loving trapped mixed race Analysis Mixed-race, Southern Accent. That, however,.
Take a look at our library of free scenes . Upon learning of Pauls murder, they immediately believe Wahnotee did it and vow to lynch him (48) if he is found. Eventually, Zoe takes the poison and runs off. They are all distraught and she cries over her fate, as that means she could be sold to someone else at the slave auction. She, however, gets her father to buy the plantation in order to save it, George, and Zoe, but Zoe is sold off separately to MClosky after a huge bidding war between him and the Sunnysides.
At about two months old, Picquet and Ramsey were sold to David R. Cook from Jasper County, Georgia. Works Consulted: Barthelemy, Anthony G., ed. Dora Sunnyside, the daughter of another local planter, falls in love with George. An Octoroon is a play written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. This page is not available in other languages. New York: The Author, 1861. The Greek Slave depicted a white woman, however, not a person of mixed race. Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude. [2], Jacobs-Jenkins researched Boucicault heavily while working on An Octoroon and found an unfinished essay at the New York Public Library saying that theatre is a place for dramatic illusionthe most believable illusion of sufferingand catharsis. At the end of the narrative Mattison includes his own "Conclusion and Moral of the Whole Story." Playwright taunts BJJ, and laments how theatre has changed since his death. A planter named Salem Scudder was brought in a while ago to help out with the running of the place, but he apparently sank a bunch of money into crazy inventions that didnt work out. Picquet solicited for donations to reach the one thousand dollar price, and in her travels asking for donations, she made it all the way to New York City where she met the Reverend Hiram Mattison. New York, NY, Accessibility Statement Terms Privacy |StageAgent 2020. It is an adaptation of Dion Boucicault's The Octoroon, which premiered in 1859. 1 May 2023 . MClosky, meanwhile, has killed a young slave named Paul, and he tries to frame an Indian named Wahnotee for the murder. Melodrama only magnifies the moral ludicrousness. A theater and a slave plantation in Louisiana, College/University, Diverse Cast, Ensemble Cast, Mature Audiences, Regional Theatre. The crunch comes when the good-hearted George Peyton has to choose between his love for Zoe, of one-eighth black ancestry, and his need to save the estate by marrying a rich heiress. During this time, he wrote to Methodists in England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales in an attempt to stamp out slavery from the Methodist Episcopal Church by circulating petitions to collect signatures. The Octoroon Summary. Part of his agenda in helping Picquet was to gain support for the abolitionist and temperance movement. George is courted by the rich Southern belle heiress Dora Sunnyside, but he finds himself falling in love with Zoe, the daughter of his uncle through one of the slaves. George doesnt know at first that Zoe is an octoroon, meaning shes 1/8th Black, but he refuses to let miscegenation law stand in the way of his hearts desire. Our summaries and analyses are written by experts, and your questions are answered by real teachers. Like Louisa, Henry was born to an enslaved black mother used as a concubine by her white master, who freed his enslaved children and their mother. Scenically, this production of An Octoroon is limited. One of the plantations overseers, Scudder, enters and informs them that the estate is in a darned bad condition (25), and has been mortgaged to a Yankee, Jacob McCloskey (MClosky), who now owns one-half of the estates land. [24], The Canadian premiere of An Octoroon was produced by The Shaw Festival for its 2017 season. They have realized that Paul is missing, and most believe him dead.
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