Up The Down Staircase

by Christopher Sergel

Stage adaptation of the novel by Bel Kaufman.

"Hi, Teach!" are the first words to greet attractive Sylvia Barrett. There's a special happiness in walking into the still-empty classroom and for the first time writing her name on the blackboard. Students pour into the classroom—cautious, testing, challenging. Simultaneously, there's a blizzard of paperwork, warnings, contradictory orders, indecipherable instructions. Frantic, Sylvia begins to fear she doesn't even understand the language. An experienced teacher translates: "Keep on file in numerical order" means throw in wastebasket. "Let it be a challenge" means you're stuck with it. "Interpersonal relationships" means a fight between kids. And "It has come to my attention" means you're in trouble. Soon Sylvia finds herself the most involved person in the school—involved in the start of a romance and in a near war with a discipline-over-everything administrator, but, most of all, involved in the unexpected, sometimes heartbreaking problems of her students. The simple stage arrangement makes the play easy to produce and serves to convey a sense of the whole school. One critic said, "Seldom has a humorous work been at the same time so important."

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Fiction

Paperback

Published January 1, 1969

About the author

Christopher Sergel's interests and talents led him on many adventures throughout the world. As captain of the schooner Chance, he spent two years in the South Pacific; as a writer for Sports Afield magazine, he lived in the African bush for a year; as a lieutenant commander during WWII, he taught celestial navigation; as a playwright, his adaptation of Sherwood Anderson's Winesburg, Ohio was seen on Broadway. But throughout his life, his greatest adventure and deepest love was his work with Dramatic Publishing. During this time, he wrote adaptations of To Kill a Mockingbird, Cheaper By the Dozen, The Mouse That Roared, Up the Down Staircase, Fame, Black Elk Speaks and many more. His love of theatre and his caring for writers made him a generous and spirited mentor to many playwrights here and around the world. His inspiration and integrity attracted to the company fine writers including C.P. Taylor, Timberlake Wertenbaker, Arthur Miller, Roald Dahl and E.B. White - to name just a few. He once said he hoped to be remembered as E.B. White described Charlotte…
"…a true friend and a good writer."

Reviews

[Maureen · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a short period of time after college, I taught in an inner city high school in a large metropolitan area, and I can attest that Bel Kaufman's descriptions are completely accurate. Most teachers make the journey Kaufman did in uncovering the lives of their students. In a ninth grade economics class, I had every child who did not have a Social Security card fill out the form. I then hand-delivered the forms to the SS office, and the children were sent their cards. One young man's grandmother came to see me, because she wanted me to know how much his Social Security card meant to her grandson. "It was the first piece of mail he ever got," she said.

Those of us who have been graced with enough love of books to use a site like this one have a hard time imagining what it means to be truly deprived. That this young man received the first envelope addressed to himself in the ninth grade still shocks me to this day. In Kaufman's book, she manages to get the message across in a more gentle manner than, say, The Way It Spozed To Be, but her experiences still ring true, and people interested in education will continue to read this book.

[Brittany · Rating 5 out of 5]

My school is currently preparing to perform this show. I play Elizabeth Ellis. c:

UPDATE: The show last night was FANTASTIC! I'm going to miss the cast so much and it's so sad that I'll never get to do this show exactly this way again.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like this better in novel form, but this would still be fun to stage. Lots of great characters that high school students could connect with.

[Alexander Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The novel is definitely better, but I'm very excited to be directing this show as the 2017 fall play at our school this year.

[Daniele (Life of a Quinn) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the premise and tone. The pacing gives it a fun comedic twist while still touching on deep topics. Definitely a little outdated in some aspects. But this would be fun to perform with some updates.

[Kayley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful story with equal amount of seriousness and comedy relief. I played Sylvia Barrett in my high school's Drama Club. :) That was one of my proudest moments in my young life.