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The Metal Children: A Play
In small-town America, a young adult novel about teen pregnancy is banned by the local school board, igniting a fierce and violent debate over abortion, religious beliefs, and modern feminism. Its directionless New York City author arrives in town to defend the book and finds that it has inspired a group of local teens to rebel in strange and unexpected ways. A timely and unforgettable drama about the failure of urban and heartland America to understand each other, The Metal Children explores what happens when fiction becomes a matter of life and death.
128 pages, ebook
First published February 2, 2010
3 people are currently reading
96 people want to read
About the author
Adam Rapp
53 books306 followersAdam Rapp says that when he was working on his chilling, compulsively readable young adult novel 33 SNOWFISH, he was haunted by several questions. Among them: "When we have nowhere to go, who do we turn to? Why are we sometimes drawn to those who are deeply troubled? How far do we have to run before we find new possibilities?"
At once harrowing and hypnotic, 33 SNOWFISH--which was nominated as a Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association--follows three troubled young people on the run in a stolen car with a kidnapped baby in tow. With the language of the street and lyrical prose, Adam Rapp hurtles the reader into the world of lost children, a world that is not for the faint of heart. His narration captures the voices of two damaged souls (a third speaks only through drawings) to tell a story of alienation, deprivation, and ultimately, the saving power of compassion. "For those readers who are ready to be challenged by a serious work of shockingly realistic fiction," notes SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, "it invites both an emotional and intellectual response, and begs to be discussed."
Adam Rapp’s first novel, MISSING THE PIANO, was named a Best Book for Young Adults as well as a Best Book for Reluctant Readers by the American Library Association. His subsequent titles include THE BUFFALO TREE, THE COPPER ELEPHANT, and LITTLE CHICAGO, which was chosen as a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age. The author’s raw, stream-of-consciousness writing style has earned him critical acclaim. "Rapp’s prose is powerful, graphic and haunting," says SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL. [He] writes in an earthy but adept language," says KIRKUS REVIEWS. "Takes a mesmerizing hold on the reader," adds HORN BOOK MAGAZINE.
In addition to being a novelist, Adam Rapp is also an accomplished and award-winning playwright. His plays--including NOCTURNE, ANIMALS AND PLANTS, BLACKBIRD, and STONE COLD DEAD SERIOUS--have been produced by the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the New York Theatre Workshop, and the Bush Theatre in London, among other venues.
Born and raised in Chicago, the novelist and playwright now lives in New York City.
At once harrowing and hypnotic, 33 SNOWFISH--which was nominated as a Best Book for Young Adults by the American Library Association--follows three troubled young people on the run in a stolen car with a kidnapped baby in tow. With the language of the street and lyrical prose, Adam Rapp hurtles the reader into the world of lost children, a world that is not for the faint of heart. His narration captures the voices of two damaged souls (a third speaks only through drawings) to tell a story of alienation, deprivation, and ultimately, the saving power of compassion. "For those readers who are ready to be challenged by a serious work of shockingly realistic fiction," notes SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL, "it invites both an emotional and intellectual response, and begs to be discussed."
Adam Rapp’s first novel, MISSING THE PIANO, was named a Best Book for Young Adults as well as a Best Book for Reluctant Readers by the American Library Association. His subsequent titles include THE BUFFALO TREE, THE COPPER ELEPHANT, and LITTLE CHICAGO, which was chosen as a New York Public Library Book for the Teen Age. The author’s raw, stream-of-consciousness writing style has earned him critical acclaim. "Rapp’s prose is powerful, graphic and haunting," says SCHOOL LIBRARY JOURNAL. [He] writes in an earthy but adept language," says KIRKUS REVIEWS. "Takes a mesmerizing hold on the reader," adds HORN BOOK MAGAZINE.
In addition to being a novelist, Adam Rapp is also an accomplished and award-winning playwright. His plays--including NOCTURNE, ANIMALS AND PLANTS, BLACKBIRD, and STONE COLD DEAD SERIOUS--have been produced by the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, the New York Theatre Workshop, and the Bush Theatre in London, among other venues.
Born and raised in Chicago, the novelist and playwright now lives in New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
October 25, 2017
Eh, no. There were some pretty cool ideas in this play. But it's a fantasy about an author having sex with a teenage girl who became "woke" reading his book, while the author flirts with his own brand of almost martyrdom. There were moments where it flirted with being really good, but it would have been nice if the opposition had been human beings instead of darkly sinister right wing school board gadflies. There's a nice parable here about the unintended consequences of art, but as a whole, it's a mess.
August 11, 2011
If this play were pursuing dramatic irony with its story of a self-obsessed author who is clueless to the impact and theme of his work then it would be satisfying, but it seems rather to be a work of autobiographical naturalistic realism and therefore fails. The story is based on real world events in the life of the playwright and Rapp has the temerity to announce this as forward to the published piece. Even without that background, the play would come off as pretentious and solipsistic while having little correspondence to the real world, but knowing the origin of the script, it is a vanity project that reads like the work of a distraught teenager. I haven't read or seen any Rapp before this but wonder how he has been as lauded as he is. I'd like to investigate more of his writing to understand if "The Metal Children" is an aberration.
July 11, 2017
3.5/5*
I thought this play was very engrossing and brought up a lot of good themes about adolescents, pregnancy, and the freedom of expression of art, but I felt a larger point lacking. It was an excellent play to read, and I would love to see it live, but I came away from it unsure as to what Rapp was trying to say about the current world. Though many great and relevant topics were brought up, I found them underdeveloped at some points, and at times it seemed like Rapp lost sight of what story the piece was really trying to tell. Overall, I did enjoy it, and I thought it raised a lot of interesting points.
I thought this play was very engrossing and brought up a lot of good themes about adolescents, pregnancy, and the freedom of expression of art, but I felt a larger point lacking. It was an excellent play to read, and I would love to see it live, but I came away from it unsure as to what Rapp was trying to say about the current world. Though many great and relevant topics were brought up, I found them underdeveloped at some points, and at times it seemed like Rapp lost sight of what story the piece was really trying to tell. Overall, I did enjoy it, and I thought it raised a lot of interesting points.
April 14, 2024
Such an interesting premise with a not-very-intelligent execution. Big fat meh.
September 20, 2022
The way this play made me feel is so nasty. Like, I was literally reading this and was just like :0 the whole time. It was a VERY interesting premise, of course, but I just hated it so much at the same time. Honestly, I liked it more when I thought it was written from a playwright and not from the mind of an actual young adult writer. (A little recap: the play follows Tobin Falmouth, a young adult writer who is currently flopping very hard in his life, and how his book is banned in a small town. His editor believes it is in his best interest to go to the small town and help them get the book unbanned, which he attempts to do. In the process of this, he gets beaten by a boy in a porky pig mask and also has sex with a sixteen year old girl.)
Personally, I liked the play as a whole. Falmouth is deeply unlikeable, even when Rapp attempts to redeem him, and is genuinely one of the worst characters I have ever seen. I hate his guts!!! WHY? WHY? WHY? Why, as a 38-year-old man, do you WANT to have UNPROTECTED INTERCOURSE with a SIXTEEN (16!!!!!!) YEAR OLD GIRL (GIRL!!!!!!!!) who has stated that she wants to have YOUR CHILDREN based off of YOUR BOOK that basically radicalized her!!!! Like, what is wrong with you? Genuinely what is wrong with you? He disgusts me. I'm glad the Porky Pig Boy beat him halfway to death.
Vera, the TEENAGE girl he got pregnant, acts as if she is much older than she is within the play. She carries herself as though she is on the same age level as Falmouth but my God, she is still a teen girl. That is what throws the play to the left for me, because I understand that not every piece of literature will be on par with Disney Original movie but it just really weirds me out about a middle aged man writing a teen girl as though she is in her late 30s and making her get pregnant by what seems like his self insert character. I do understand that it is meant to be satirical of some sort, but when it is taken completely seriously within the confines of the media it is in with no blow back for the offender it becomes something new and much more sinister.
Falmouth reaches absolutely no repercussions at the end of the play, he gets to meet his child and his life is getting better. There is no point where Vera, or anyone important, looks at him and says: "What you did was wrong. Sleeping with a teenage girl, 22 years your junior, is not okay." The only thing similar to that is when Roberta Cupp, a prominent Christian within her community, reads Falmouth for filth but the fact that he intentionally impregnated a 16-year-old does not come up.
The benefits of the play is that it is in an incredibly interesting setting, and that all of the characters in it are very compelling. I just wish he had rejected Vera, said that he was too old instead of being flattered by her attention and sleeping with her. At the end there is even a reference that they may end up together. It is just a foul mess all around. To some extent, I can understand what Rapp was trying to do. Maybe make some claim about how after many failures, the smallest amount of stardom and attention makes you do heinous things, but alas. It was a good read, and I did enjoy it. (3.5 stars)
Personally, I liked the play as a whole. Falmouth is deeply unlikeable, even when Rapp attempts to redeem him, and is genuinely one of the worst characters I have ever seen. I hate his guts!!! WHY? WHY? WHY? Why, as a 38-year-old man, do you WANT to have UNPROTECTED INTERCOURSE with a SIXTEEN (16!!!!!!) YEAR OLD GIRL (GIRL!!!!!!!!) who has stated that she wants to have YOUR CHILDREN based off of YOUR BOOK that basically radicalized her!!!! Like, what is wrong with you? Genuinely what is wrong with you? He disgusts me. I'm glad the Porky Pig Boy beat him halfway to death.
Vera, the TEENAGE girl he got pregnant, acts as if she is much older than she is within the play. She carries herself as though she is on the same age level as Falmouth but my God, she is still a teen girl. That is what throws the play to the left for me, because I understand that not every piece of literature will be on par with Disney Original movie but it just really weirds me out about a middle aged man writing a teen girl as though she is in her late 30s and making her get pregnant by what seems like his self insert character. I do understand that it is meant to be satirical of some sort, but when it is taken completely seriously within the confines of the media it is in with no blow back for the offender it becomes something new and much more sinister.
Falmouth reaches absolutely no repercussions at the end of the play, he gets to meet his child and his life is getting better. There is no point where Vera, or anyone important, looks at him and says: "What you did was wrong. Sleeping with a teenage girl, 22 years your junior, is not okay." The only thing similar to that is when Roberta Cupp, a prominent Christian within her community, reads Falmouth for filth but the fact that he intentionally impregnated a 16-year-old does not come up.
The benefits of the play is that it is in an incredibly interesting setting, and that all of the characters in it are very compelling. I just wish he had rejected Vera, said that he was too old instead of being flattered by her attention and sleeping with her. At the end there is even a reference that they may end up together. It is just a foul mess all around. To some extent, I can understand what Rapp was trying to do. Maybe make some claim about how after many failures, the smallest amount of stardom and attention makes you do heinous things, but alas. It was a good read, and I did enjoy it. (3.5 stars)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 8, 2025
there are not enough words to describe how awful this was. it was like watching a series of car crashes, each more dramatic and painful than the last. there's no way the author wasn't hard the entire time he was writing this. why else would he make the main character an insufferable self insert? why else would every character be constantly sucking him off for his revolutionary writing? why else would him sleeping with a 16 year old girl go unnoticed and even praised? she asked for it, after all. she literally asked him to get her pregnant through an insufferable monologue about how getting pregnant is the most meaningful thing a woman can do. adam rapp, if i ever meet you, it's on sight. i will be fighting you in the street. be afraid.
July 25, 2020
To be honest, this is such an underwhelming, shallow and poorly written play. So bereft of the very stuff that the play claims good art is bound to do. Pointless, self-affirming and pretty much a waste of time. At no point did Rapp wish to challenge our understanding of the responsibilities a writer has to present new thought, new perspectives. He should have just had a male white actor play the character of Tobin by standing on a bare stage and pat himself in the back for the duration.
April 9, 2025
So weird in a (mostly) good way. I was expecting more tragedy and drama and I did get a little bit of that but mostly it was just full of biting wit and commentary. Shockingly hilarious… I was laughing out loud. I think more than anything this is a play about the power of a story and how the author’s relationship to the story plays into that. One of those books where I’ll have to just sit and think about it for a while. Really great!
June 10, 2022
What I really appreciate about this play is the concrete concept that art may be created for one reason, with one viewpoint, but once it’s out in the world it becomes it’s own entity, free of context.
June 25, 2017
Ok little play I read on the Potomac
Wish it was longer because there was a lot untied
Art exists as a mirror to democracy
Wish it was longer because there was a lot untied
Art exists as a mirror to democracy
November 4, 2018
Fantastic play! Thoughtful, funny, dark and impossible to put down. My first Adam Rapp play but not my last.
August 25, 2019
2 & 1/2 stars. Some real great moments, including the lead character's monologue about why he wrote the book, but it was a messy play. Some things were unrealistic and too cause vague for my liking.
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July 18, 2021weird
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February 5, 2024the play thrives when it leans into the weird stuff that happens
January 11, 2023
I've seen other reviews complain about the content of the play itself, and I understand why people are uncomfortable with the content of the play. My review is based on the perspective of someone looking for plays to perform or direct.
I think that this is a competent script with a complex but interesting plot. The characters are all pretty interesting (if, frequently, unlikable) and there's a lot of material here for a director to work with. I would be interested in seeing a production of this piece to know how directorial intention could change my perspective and interpretation of the text itself. From a dry read, though, I liked it.
I think that this is a competent script with a complex but interesting plot. The characters are all pretty interesting (if, frequently, unlikable) and there's a lot of material here for a director to work with. I would be interested in seeing a production of this piece to know how directorial intention could change my perspective and interpretation of the text itself. From a dry read, though, I liked it.
August 12, 2020
This was a fantastic read. I wish I'd seen it live though! I was scrolling though Scribd after I'd searched for the word "play" and this one came up. I saved it to my reading list and didn't think I'd get to it. This morning, while trying to decide whether to read "Othello" or this, I decided to take a chance with Rapp's 2010 play. I'm so glad that I did!
The play focuses on the censorship of a book taught at a high school in the US. The Christian community argues the book should be banned. Many students, teachers and people in the community feel the book shouldn't be banned. What follows is a sometimes sad, sometimes funny, and sometimes surreal story of two cult-like communities that battle over a book as if it has the power to influence teens in the community (and as we see, it does).
As the author, Tobin, attends a meeting to discuss whether or not the book should be banned, Tobin confesses: "I wasn't trying to say anything special. I don't even know that I completely understand the novel. All I know is that I wrote it because I had to. At least it came out feeling that way, like it was an important thing for me to do. I could have just as easily built a shed or moved a pile of bricks" (70).
To possibly further disappoint the attendees of the meeting, Tobin makes another confession. Before I regurgitate his speech, please let me preface with this: as an English major, my job was to interpret and critique written texts, so I found it even funnier to read the following excerpt in which Tobin acknowledges his awareness of how his work has been interpreted: "I think some very smart critics wrote some very sophisticated interpretations about what all the symbolism means in 'The Metal Children' and how it relates to the problems of today and all my skillful figurative leaps and all that, but the truth is, I was just writing because I had to and that's the way it came out" (70). Ahhh, so great!!
I highly recommend reading this and/or seeing it if it's ever produced on stage again! If anyone has any experience reading Rapp and has a favourite piece, please recommend it.
[Ebook, Scribd]
The play focuses on the censorship of a book taught at a high school in the US. The Christian community argues the book should be banned. Many students, teachers and people in the community feel the book shouldn't be banned. What follows is a sometimes sad, sometimes funny, and sometimes surreal story of two cult-like communities that battle over a book as if it has the power to influence teens in the community (and as we see, it does).
As the author, Tobin, attends a meeting to discuss whether or not the book should be banned, Tobin confesses: "I wasn't trying to say anything special. I don't even know that I completely understand the novel. All I know is that I wrote it because I had to. At least it came out feeling that way, like it was an important thing for me to do. I could have just as easily built a shed or moved a pile of bricks" (70).
To possibly further disappoint the attendees of the meeting, Tobin makes another confession. Before I regurgitate his speech, please let me preface with this: as an English major, my job was to interpret and critique written texts, so I found it even funnier to read the following excerpt in which Tobin acknowledges his awareness of how his work has been interpreted: "I think some very smart critics wrote some very sophisticated interpretations about what all the symbolism means in 'The Metal Children' and how it relates to the problems of today and all my skillful figurative leaps and all that, but the truth is, I was just writing because I had to and that's the way it came out" (70). Ahhh, so great!!
I highly recommend reading this and/or seeing it if it's ever produced on stage again! If anyone has any experience reading Rapp and has a favourite piece, please recommend it.
[Ebook, Scribd]
May 18, 2016
Normally I can't get "into" plays when merely read on the page, but this one was as compelling for me as any literary thriller of late. I'd imagine it's totally amazing to see it play out onstage.
Also - love the reference to someone *else* who inexplicably found Aslan hot in the Narnia books as a kid. (Though for me, that probably had something to do with being voiced by Liam Neeson)
Also also - "she told him to go take his Viagra and watch Gossip Girl" might be the best burn in the history of, well, ever.
Also - love the reference to someone *else* who inexplicably found Aslan hot in the Narnia books as a kid. (Though for me, that probably had something to do with being voiced by Liam Neeson)
Also also - "she told him to go take his Viagra and watch Gossip Girl" might be the best burn in the history of, well, ever.
October 1, 2016
The idea and premise of the play were interesting and there are some moments in the play that were absolutely hilarious, how ever a lot of the play feel rushed and there is almost no time for the reader or the characters to process all of the crazy and disturbing things that are going on. Lots of potential monologue material.
July 7, 2015
A quick play about an author trying to defend his book against censorship. An exploration on authorship, censorship, and maintaining the balance between community mores and the freedom to explore new ideas.
June 5, 2012
The perineal lack of symbolism in this play makes it a barebones and ironic look at Tobin Falmouth's journey as not only a writer, but a human being. Enjoyed it thoroughly.
November 12, 2014
It was witty and clever but was definitely a hanging thing. I was like, okay, that was it? :/
August 22, 2024
ReRead 22 August 2024
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews