Moonchildren: A Comic Play In Two Acts

by Michael Weller

Moonchildren is a full-length comic-drama by Michael Weller. Originally titled Cancer, this play explores the rootless 60's generation of free-love and protest.

Five male college seniors and their house-mates have no purpose in their lives. They march against the staus quo and taunt the "pigs". One feels genuine emotion at his mother's death from cancer, one romance dies and another is aborted. Ultimately, they realize their lives are as empty as the establishment they protest so vehemently against.

Genres: Plays, Drama, Theatre, Historical Fiction, Fiction, Read For School

86 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Michael Weller studied music composition at Brandeis University, then worked as a jazz pianist before taking his graduate degree in theater at the University of Manchester, England. His best-known plays are Moonchildren, Fishing, Loose Ends and Spoils Of War. His films include Hair and Ragtime and a teleplay of Spoils of War. He co-founded (with Angelina Fiordelissi and Suzanne Brinkley) and serves now as supervising mentor of the Mentor Project of the Cherry Lane Theatre, currently in its tenth season.

Mr. Weller's work has received an Academy Award nomination, an N.A.A.C.P. Outstanding Contribution Award, Critics Outer Circle Award, a Rockefeller Foundation Grant and a Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays Award, and has been honored by The Broken Watch Theatre Company which gave their playhouse his name. He is on the counsel of the Writer's Guild Fund and the Dramatists Guild of America. He lives in Brooklyn.

Reviews

[Dave Clapper · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the greatest play in the world, but I have really fond memories associated with it, as I got to play Cootie in a production at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in '86.

[Tina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw a production of this play at St. Nicholas Theater in Chicago in the late 1970s. I was in high school at the time, and the intense production (directed by a young Robert Falls) made a profound impression on me. It was my first encounter with the raw intimacy of a small theater space (at one point the actors were rolling around at the feet of those of us in the front row, to my teenage discomfort), and I didn't realize until many years later that I'd had the privilege of witnessing one of the building blocks of the now-famous Chicago theater scene.

Reading the play now, the story of a group of college students in the mid-1960s may be a little dated, but the memory of that production, and Weller's sharp wit, keep it fresh to me. Weller went on to write the screenplays for Hair and Ragtime, two films I loved, as well as many other plays that I don't know. But I certainly enjoyed revisiting this one.

[Autumn · Rating 1 out of 5]

i remembered this being a lot better. it's a meandering little play, with almost no pathos to speak of. exhaustingly nihilistic. i don't typically dislike slice-of-life shows, but the way this one keeps teetering around something actually happening frustrates me. the conflict is boring, the characters are flat and uninteresting, and the dialogue—while sharp—never hits as directly as it wants to.

the opening scene might be the only one that delivers on the promise of a "comic" play, and even then, is only superficially funny. the rest of it lumbers from moment to moment with no sense of momentum or character until it ends, unceremoniously, with a whimper.

[Ice 9 · Rating 4 out of 5]

A much loved but hard to produce play in two acts "Moonchildren" is a remnant of the baby boomer era. I have to say that if you see it you should also read it to know what it was all about if anyone can really figure that out.

Also, see my full review at: http://letterstocassiandotherfolks.bl...

[Grace Liz]

Kathy, ruth

[Em Stern · Rating 3 out of 5]

not a fun read. nothing happens. not great for scenes. not great for monologues. important play for the time, but meh.
the only scene i find:

[Colette Jarrell · Rating 4 out of 5]

rose was mike, bob, kathy, mr. willis, lucky, dick, bream, uncle murry, milkman, cootie’s father

i was ruth, cootie, norman, kathy, shelly, ralph, effing, milkman

[Brian McCann · Rating 1 out of 5]

Just awful. Plain awful.

[Alexandra Ye · Rating 3 out of 5]

i like that nothing really happens

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

As somone born right between the Baby Boom and Gen X who has older siblings, this exploration of 1960's counter culture resonated very well with me. As I was dealing with the pendulum swing the other way during the Reagan years, this play helped me understand more of the young adult counter culture that occurred just a decade or so before. I felt it gave me insight into what into the social, cultural, and political environment of the 1960's that molded my teachers, siblings, and general slightly older adult role models who were teaching me in a rather different society setting (suburban America in the early 1980's).

[Jeremy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm not really sure what the purpose or overall message of Moonchildren was and I'm not sure exactly what happened at the end. Perhaps if I saw it live, it would clear all that up. Still, I thoroughly enjoyed this play. It's a slice of life following a group of college students during the Vietnam War protests. It's not the kind of plot I'm usually drawn to, but something about Michael Weller's dialogue is the perfect balance of realistic enough to be believable and abnormal enough to be captivating.

[Gonzalo Rodríguez Risco · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first I couldn't connect, but the story slowly grasps you... And the end is surprising.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this play for my directing class and enjoyed it. It was nice to read a more contemporary play this semester!

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

flatmate lent this to me, surprisingly good, see it when it shows on parent's weekend