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In the Heart of America and Other Plays
Naomi Wallace's plays speak the underside of life. Her characters suffer and survive against the enormous weight of the times with a dignity that inspires. Her work challenges the audience and reader to reexamine the conflicts and meaning of our everyday lives through her singular, poetic imagery and language. One Flea Spare
In the Heart of America
Slaughter City
The War Boys
The Trestle at Pope's Creek
In the Heart of America
Slaughter City
The War Boys
The Trestle at Pope's Creek
300 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
9 people are currently reading
68 people want to read
About the author
Naomi Wallace
92 books17 followersNaomi Wallace is an American playwright, screenwriter and poet from Kentucky. She is widely known for her plays, and has received several distinguished awards for her work.
Her Finborough Theatre productions include And I And Silence, which subsequently transferred to Signature Theater, New York City. Other theatre productions include In the Heart of America (Bush Theatre), Slaughter City (Royal Shakespeare Company), One Flea Spare (Public Theater, New York City), The Trestle at Pope Lick Creekand Things of Dry Hours (New York Theatre Workshop), The Fever Chart: Three Visions of the Middle East (Public Theater, New York City), and Night is a Room (Signature Theater, New York City).
Naomi has been awarded the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize twice, the Fellowship of Southern Writers Drama Award, the Obie Award and the Horton Foote Award. She is also a recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Arts development grant. In 2013, Naomi received the inaugural Windham Campbell Prize for Drama, and in 2015 an Arts and Letters Award in Literature. Her play One Flea Spare was recently incorporated into the permanent repertoire of the French National Theatre, La Comédie-Française. Only two American playwrights have been added to La Comédie’s repertoire in two hundred years, the other being Tennessee Williams.
Her Finborough Theatre productions include And I And Silence, which subsequently transferred to Signature Theater, New York City. Other theatre productions include In the Heart of America (Bush Theatre), Slaughter City (Royal Shakespeare Company), One Flea Spare (Public Theater, New York City), The Trestle at Pope Lick Creekand Things of Dry Hours (New York Theatre Workshop), The Fever Chart: Three Visions of the Middle East (Public Theater, New York City), and Night is a Room (Signature Theater, New York City).
Naomi has been awarded the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize twice, the Fellowship of Southern Writers Drama Award, the Obie Award and the Horton Foote Award. She is also a recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship and a National Endowment for the Arts development grant. In 2013, Naomi received the inaugural Windham Campbell Prize for Drama, and in 2015 an Arts and Letters Award in Literature. Her play One Flea Spare was recently incorporated into the permanent repertoire of the French National Theatre, La Comédie-Française. Only two American playwrights have been added to La Comédie’s repertoire in two hundred years, the other being Tennessee Williams.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
May 10, 2022
We read The War Boys in college and I loved it and I always meant to read more.
Now I have read more, and I still love it!
Naomi Wallace's work is intense, political, and definitely more evocative than representational. I'm currently rereading The Glass of Menagerie, and both playwrights seem to operate in a similar mode of emphasizing emotion and subtext.
Which can sometimes be lacking. If there's a complaint I have about this collection of plays, it's that some of the pieces could use a little more structure: I think the lack of structure is an intentional choice, but for me it doesn't always work. In the Heart of America and Slaughter City, especially, had clear plots and character developments, but the endings lacked a certain definitiveness, things just . . . ended. Again, intentionally so, I'm sure.
But that's a very minor point, and one I don't necessarily endorse at 100%. Because these plays are very much experiential, and even with the lack of concreteness, I imagine multiple readings/viewings of these plays will remain wholly worthwhile. Such was the case for me and The War Boys, and I can't wait for the chance to see these works performed, on stage or otherwise.
Now I have read more, and I still love it!
Naomi Wallace's work is intense, political, and definitely more evocative than representational. I'm currently rereading The Glass of Menagerie, and both playwrights seem to operate in a similar mode of emphasizing emotion and subtext.
Which can sometimes be lacking. If there's a complaint I have about this collection of plays, it's that some of the pieces could use a little more structure: I think the lack of structure is an intentional choice, but for me it doesn't always work. In the Heart of America and Slaughter City, especially, had clear plots and character developments, but the endings lacked a certain definitiveness, things just . . . ended. Again, intentionally so, I'm sure.
But that's a very minor point, and one I don't necessarily endorse at 100%. Because these plays are very much experiential, and even with the lack of concreteness, I imagine multiple readings/viewings of these plays will remain wholly worthwhile. Such was the case for me and The War Boys, and I can't wait for the chance to see these works performed, on stage or otherwise.
October 5, 2018
I only read In the Heart of America for class.
September 21, 2020
maybe too much genius for me to understand. I'll have to re-read this one, maybe with a friend who's willing to painstakingly parse everything.
September 27, 2021
Just read In the Heart of America
October 5, 2021
In the heart of America is legit the worse play I’ve ever read. Horrendous language, extremely vulgar, & I’m disappointed I was forced to read this for a class. Definitely an “R” rated play.
January 24, 2022
Naomi Wallace is a great playwrite. I especially liked The Trestle Pope Lick Creek. It's simple but heartbreaking, and so well-written.
August 30, 2023
What can I say about this masterful writer called Naomi Wallace. The level of depth and sensitivity she is able to bring to her every single work is admirable. She just takes important, world altering events like the plague or the Vietnam War and builds a whole, beautiful and vulnerable story around them, with multi-layered characters and heartbreaking endings.
My favourite - no suprise - is probably "In the Heart of America". The symbolism, the imagery, the surrealist elements of this play; the fact that we go back and forth between different timelines and we see all these ghosts of the past (Lue Ming) that continue the haunt the present proves how the past is ALWAYS present. I love how we explore the conscience of the soldiers who HAD to kill but did not necessarily WANTED to kill. I also enjoyed the element of homosexually, between males (who are also soldiers) and come from different racial backgrounds (I LIVE FOR THE HOMOSEXUAL ELEMENTS). This love which was doomed from the beginning made me cry a lot, especially when these people were condemned because they just loved each other. A pair of star crossed lovers indeed! It's actually one of the most heartbreakingly beautiful love story!!!
One of the most important themes, apart from the sexual and racial undertones (and the war obviously) is this idea of toxic masculinity. We see in this play - especially through the character of Boxler - in order to be a man, you have to be a cruel victimizer at the same time. The masculinity of the man is measured by Joe many people he has killed during the war, how many women he raped and how many families did he destroy. It's not only cruel, but it's also sad. It makes you feel sad about our world and about the men as well. For the first time, you see what is expected from men around this period - they have to be brutal, raw, masculine alpha males - and if they're not they face the same fate as Remzi.
Lastly, I also want to point out to one of my favourite moments -fair warning it's very heartbreaking and cruel. It's when Lue Ming describes what 'Boxler' did to her and her minor daughter during the Iraq war. He tried to rape her, he 'couldn't get it up' so instead he killed both her and her daughter. Again, we see this idea of toxic masculinity prevalent here; to prove he is THE MAN he has to rape (sexual dominance) and when he is unable to do that, he can not appear weak so he chooses another way of establishing superiority (physical dominance/ murder).
It's an amazing selection of plays. If you don't mind getting heartbroken and probably depressed, I would highly recommend it!! xoxoxox
My favourite - no suprise - is probably "In the Heart of America". The symbolism, the imagery, the surrealist elements of this play; the fact that we go back and forth between different timelines and we see all these ghosts of the past (Lue Ming) that continue the haunt the present proves how the past is ALWAYS present. I love how we explore the conscience of the soldiers who HAD to kill but did not necessarily WANTED to kill. I also enjoyed the element of homosexually, between males (who are also soldiers) and come from different racial backgrounds (I LIVE FOR THE HOMOSEXUAL ELEMENTS). This love which was doomed from the beginning made me cry a lot, especially when these people were condemned because they just loved each other. A pair of star crossed lovers indeed! It's actually one of the most heartbreakingly beautiful love story!!!
One of the most important themes, apart from the sexual and racial undertones (and the war obviously) is this idea of toxic masculinity. We see in this play - especially through the character of Boxler - in order to be a man, you have to be a cruel victimizer at the same time. The masculinity of the man is measured by Joe many people he has killed during the war, how many women he raped and how many families did he destroy. It's not only cruel, but it's also sad. It makes you feel sad about our world and about the men as well. For the first time, you see what is expected from men around this period - they have to be brutal, raw, masculine alpha males - and if they're not they face the same fate as Remzi.
Lastly, I also want to point out to one of my favourite moments -fair warning it's very heartbreaking and cruel. It's when Lue Ming describes what 'Boxler' did to her and her minor daughter during the Iraq war. He tried to rape her, he 'couldn't get it up' so instead he killed both her and her daughter. Again, we see this idea of toxic masculinity prevalent here; to prove he is THE MAN he has to rape (sexual dominance) and when he is unable to do that, he can not appear weak so he chooses another way of establishing superiority (physical dominance/ murder).
It's an amazing selection of plays. If you don't mind getting heartbroken and probably depressed, I would highly recommend it!! xoxoxox
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 22, 2007
i read "slaughter city" back as an undergrad and loved it. This is a fantastic series of plays that take social issues and turn them into a crazed fever dream. I can't imagine what these look like on the stage, but they were fantastic reads.
March 18, 2013
Wallace's plays are beautiful. They're disturbing and bring a lot of questions into my mind about life and theatre and how would someone stage some of those things! Agh! Yes, I couldn't put them down. Great work.
January 11, 2016
I felt like I was back in school reading amazing plays to discuss with classmates. I found myself thinking, "I can't wait to get to Masterpieces and talk about this!" I'm actually kind of sad that I don't have a class to meet up with to talk about this one.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews