683 Words; 3 Pages; Open Document. mid 1800's, louisiana, plantation terrebonne, mississippi river. Through artfully constructed layers of sentimentality and aesthetic contrivance emerges one of the primary justifications for the enslavement of a whole group of human beings: the notion of one drop of black blood, the drop sinister, by which a light-skinned person could be consigned to a life of bondage. 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). This page is not available in other languages. The citation above will include either 2 or 3 dates. Take a look at our library of free scenes . The Octoroon - Wikipedia Salem Scudder, a kind Yankee, was Judge Peyton's business partner; though he wishes he could save Terrebonne, he has no money. MClosky, who everyone agrees is awful, falls in love with her, as does George, and Scudder is already in love with her. date the date you are citing the material. Zoe enters along with Mr. Sunnyside, a plantation owner, and his Southern belle daughter, Dora, who tells Zoe she is in love with George. Pete, George, and Dora acquaint themselves when Zoe enters to meet George. He plans to buy her and make her his mistress. Jacobs-Jenkins looks at the consequences of putting oneself onstage in their own work, if it is a real self or a fake self, which Jacobs-Jenkins embodied himself in the roles of Br'er Rabbit and Captain Ratts. 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. one-eighth African American), and how these . An Octoroon is a play written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. During this time, she was "accused of being an imposter" and fraud because of her skin color (p. 43) On one particular occasion, some of the gentlemen Picquet inquired upon for donations sternly asked her, "You are a colored women? Branden Jacobs-Jenkins An Octoroon is a whirlwind of images and dialogue that leaves no one out of the conversation and makes no apologies for asking the hard questions. Perhaps not surprisingly, such informal mixed-race unions in the slave states occurred fairly often, making Zoes situation seem not so unusual after all. [18], The play was presented at the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia from March 16, 2016 to April 10, 2016, directed by Joanna Settle. 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). If there are three dates, the first date is the date of the original The most overt of this is Zoes status as an Octoroon, a person who is one-eighth black. The Octoroon quickly garnered popular and critical acclaim. [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. 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. Naila Aladdin-Sanders costumes hit the right rompish note, but Frederica Nascimentos set establishes little and Nicholas Santiagos video gets lost in the nighttime shuffle. Text for each Image of the Week is written by Sheldon Cheek. It is an adaptation of Dion Boucicault's The Octoroon, which premiered in 1859. Jacob McClosky, the man who ruined Judge Peyton, has come to inform George and his aunt (who was bequeathed a life interest in the estate) that their land will be sold and their slaves auctioned off separately. The Octoroon Summary. 1828?- and Hiram Mattison, 1811-1868 Just as the men circle Wahnotee, getting ready to lynch him, Scudder finds that a nearby camera (which Wahnotee had broken, believing that it was a gun that killed Paul) took a picture of Paul and MClosky just as the latter was using a tomahawk to kill the former. MClosky asks Scudder to help him, but he instead simply gives him his bowie knife and leaves him to his own defenses. Shakespeare in the Woods 2023 Season
Review: 'An Octoroon,' a Branden Jacobs-Jenkins Comedy About Race Despite her deep concern for Ramsey's welfare, she found happiness in her marriage to Henry Picquet, a mulatto. Bells own distilled response to the theme of miscegenation in the play seems to have evolved rather quickly. "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. Picquet recalls that slaves were stripped of their clothes to be appraised and then sold to the highest bidder. Scudder and Pete enter to tell the group of MCloskys guilt when MClosky enters and is quickly rushed on by Wahnotee. This role is played by Matthew Hancock, who while delivering a sprawling monologue, applies whiteface in preparation of taking on the roles of both George and MClosky. [17], Company One Theatre in Boston co-produced the play with ArtsEmerson, directed by Summer L. Williams. The Octoroon Summary and Analysis (like SparkNotes) - Free Book Notes New York, NY, Escape To Margaritaville
This money was enough to transport her and her family the way to Cincinnati. Review: Fountain Theatre's 'Octoroon' by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins - Los Poem: The Octoroon by Albery Allson Whitman - PoetryNook.Com 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. He is beloved by an old Indian man named Wahnotee, who lives nearby and keeps watch over Paul. 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. This guide details the original Boucicault script and associated productions. George proposes to Dora, but Zoe confesses their love, which turns off Dora. To start off it seemed like a comedy but then quickly turned to a melodrama. Synopsis A Black playwright is struggling to find his voice among a chorus of people telling him what he should and should not be writing. This led Jacobs-Jenkins to see doubles and pairs in Boucicault's play, through relationships between characters e.g.
Abolitionist John Brown was hanged just three days before the plays debut, which is seen as one of the catalyst events that started the Civil War. Nataki Garrett directed the first production of An Octoroon outside of New York with Mixed Blood Theatre Company in the fall of 2015. Role Size. The solitary scuffle thrillingly raises the productions pulse. The most striking characterization is by Pam Trotter, who as Minnie, one of the enslaved workers at the house, seizes every moment of her stage time. Dora tells Sunnyside that he must buy Terrebonne and he does so, winning the auction. Download the entire The Octoroon study guide as a printable PDF! The Octoroons have no apparent trace of the Negro in their appearance but still are subject to the legal disabilities which attach them to the condition of blacks. Jacobs-Jenkins himself took on the role of Br'er Rabbit and Captain Ratts.[14]. In 1828, Louisa Picquet (1828-1896) was born near Columbia, South Carolina to fifteen year old Elizabeth Ramsey, a quadroon slave, and John Randolph, Ramsey's white master, which made her an octoroon, or an individual with one black and seven white grandparents. What is the genre of the octoroon. The Octoroon Summary 2022-10-22 All scenes are property and copyright of their owners. publication in traditional print. The title refers to a person who is one-eighth black. New York: The Author, 1861. Their family included Henry's four year old daughter, Harriet, and Louisa's eight year old daughter, Eliza. The conflict centers around Zoe, the Octoroon, a term used at the time to describe a person who was 1/8 African, 7/8 Caucasian. The owner, Mr. Peyton, has died and left a mountain of debts and liens against the property, and this is making it problematic for his wife and daughter. publication in traditional print. 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. Mrs. Peyton instead tells Paul to go fetch the mailbags because she is waiting for an important letter from Liverpool. 2023 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Among the summaries and analysis available for The Octoroon, there are 1 Full Study Guide, 2 Short Summaries and 1 . 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. He almost proposes to Dora to get her fortune and save Terrebonne, but he cannot bring himself to lie. "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 . [1] But neither the absurdity nor the horror will disappear by closing our eyes. Mara Klein as Zoe is tragically demure in a sweet yet one-note manner. Upon learning of Pauls murder, they immediately believe Wahnotee did it and vow to lynch him (48) if he is found. The production was critically acclaimed, winning an Obie Award for best new American play in 2014 (a tie with his previous play, Appropriate). We don't currently have any monologues from The Octoroon . MClosky escapes while being taken to justice but is confronted and killed by Wahnotee. 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. Plot contrivances and scenic coups, musical bombast and sentimental treacle, desperate poses and flamboyant gestures the genres hallmarks are deployed with an anachronistic difference in An Octoroon. The plays language darts from Boucicaults exaggerated Southern cadences to Jacobs-Jenkins modern urban slang. Bartleby the Scrivener, A Tale of Wall Street. Word Count: 361. His battles with the church arent over, How Palm Springs ran out Black and Latino families to build a fantasy for rich, white people, 17 SoCal hiking trails that are blooming with wildflowers (but probably not for long! The last word, an important colloquialism, was misread by the typesetter of the play. Zoe and George are alone, and George confesses his love for her. Back at Terrebonne, Zoe returns but with a sad heart, as she knows that she and George can never be together. [3], Jacobs-Jenkins recommends the play be performed with 8 or 9 actors,[4] with male characters played using blackface/whiteface/redface, and female characters portrayed by actresses that match the characters' race.[1]. Before long it was widely reproduced on a smaller scale as one of Mintons ceramic Parian-ware figurines, as well as in bronze replicas. Here Mattison asks what her feelings were living with Williams in sin and Picquet discusses her distress. In an act of desperation she drinks a vial of poison, and Scudder enters to deliver the good news that McClosky was proven guilty of murdering Paul and that Terrebonne now belongs to George. In the American version, the tale ends tragically with Zoes suicide as she realizes that any future with George as man and wife could never be. She is beautiful, educated, kind, and polished. 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 group immediately calls for his lynching, but they agree to try him first. 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. Hancock, who has the toughest challenge of playing both hero and villain, occasionally seems underpowered. Picquet was born into a lineage of sexual victimization and strong maternal dedication. Suspense the melodramatists best friend is sent up even as its savored. Minnie and Dido realize all the other slaves ran away. MClosky enters, and upon seeing Paul sitting on the mailbag, he uses Wahnotees tomahawk to kill Paul. The stage provided the inspiration for Bells subject. Later, her husband Henry served in the Union Army until receiving a medical discharge, leaving Louisa as the household's sole provider. Jacobs-Jenkins developed his take on The Octoroon while he was a Dorothy Strelsin Fellow at Soho Rep in the 2009/10 season. Where larger, better funded theaters in Los Angeles have played it safe, the Fountain has made room for bold, boundary-breaking drama. Through the playful lens of theater, An Octoroon invites us to take a good long look at the cultural history of slavery. Boucicault), transforms himself into the Native American character Wahnotee by smearing his face with red makeup. Narrative context is dispensed with to focus on the essential plight of the victim, a process often leavening compassion with a less chaste voyeurism. 2 Come with Black News and Black Views with a Whole Lotta Attitude. 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. ), Matthew Lawrence says his agency dropped him after he refused to strip for director, Ed Sheeran blasts music expert for criminal testimony in Marvin Gaye copyright trial, Roman Polanski and the woman he pleaded guilty to raping pose together 45 years later, Paul Stanley of KISS dives into debate over transgender acceptance versus kids transitioning, Has the Justin Timberlake Its Gonna Be May meme passed its expiration date? Summary In 1828, Louisa Picquet (1828-1896) was born near Columbia, South Carolina to fifteen year old Elizabeth Ramsey, a quadroon slave, and John Randolph, Ramsey's white master, which made her an octoroon, or an individual with one black and seven white grandparents. Time & Place. A spectacular collision of the antebellum South and 21st century cultural politics, An Octoroon is a gasp-inducing deconstruction of a moustache-twirling melodrama by 19th century playwright Dion Boucicault that twists a funhouse world of larger-than-life stereotypes into blistering social commentary. BJJ, trying to wrest himself from a depressive funk, had wanted to investigate what still speaks to him in Boucicaults drama. Join StageAgent today and unlock amazing theatre resources and opportunities. Scenes are presented on StageAgent for educational purposes only. Mattison wants the reader to remember that this story "is no fiction" and that what has been written is "worthy of the most implicit belief" (p. 49). The Octoroon is appropriately considered a sensation drama, though it received the label retrospectively. His design for the narrative was moralistic and therefore he focuses many of his questions on Picquet's identity as a sexual victim and concubine. This outdoor production is an ideal way of easing back into this most public of art forms, free of any pandemic misgivings about breathing the same air of fellow theatergoers. Although Sunnyside calls Wahnotee a nuisance, Zoe defends him as a gentle, honest creature who loves Paul with the tenderness of a woman (30). Tragic mulatta. 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. The Octoroon (Play) Scenes | StageAgent 2023 eNotes.com, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 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. The citation above will include either 2 or 3 dates. Research Playwrights, Librettists, Composers and Lyricists. Part of his agenda in helping Picquet was to gain support for the abolitionist and temperance movement. All monologues are property and copyright of their owners. George goes to Dora and begins to propose to her; while he is doing so, however, he has a change of heart and decides not to lie to her. At the end of the narrative Mattison includes his own "Conclusion and Moral of the Whole Story." George, upon arriving at the plantation from Europe, begins to fall in love with her. This image is part of a weekly series thatThe Rootis presenting in conjunction with the Image of the Black Archive & Library at Harvard Universitys Hutchins Center for African and African American Research. The Octoroon (PDF) After Williams sickened and died, Picquet describes her relief at his passing; to celebrate her freedom from sexual abuse and "sin", she attended church that very Sunday (p. 22). The Art of Dramatic Composition: A Prologue, "Branden Jacobs-Jenkins: Feel That Thought", "The Great Work Continues: The 25 Best American Plays Since 'Angels in America', "Amber Gray on 'An Octoroon,' at Soho Rep", "The Octoroon Delayed Opens This Week at PS122", "Branden Jacobs-Jenkins Tries to Revive The Octoroon", "Disgruntled Cast Member Issues Invite to P.S.122's Troubled Octoroon", "Soho Rep Reading of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' An Octoroon to Feature Saycon Sengbloh and William Jackson Harper | Playbill", "Review: 'An Octoroon,' a Branden Jacobs-Jenkins Comedy About Race", "BERKELEY REPERTORY THEATRE | An Octoroon", "Cast announced for An Octoroon at Orange Tree", "Review: An Octoroon (Orange Tree Theatre)", "An Octoroon is taboo ridden, but thoughtful (Shaw Festival)", "Georgia Southern Theatre & Performance to Present "An Octoroon", "2017 Results | Critics' Circle Theatre Awards", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=An_Octoroon&oldid=1152449650, This page was last edited on 30 April 2023, at 08:55. 8.) transform as a part of life. [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?") 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. Minnie comforts Dido and they look forward to their new lives on Captain Ratts boat. An Octoroon - Wikipedia online is the same, and will be the first date in the citation. Already a member? Works Consulted: Barthelemy, Anthony G., ed. Nagle overdoes it in the early going as Playwright and Wahnotee, but by the time he plays LaFouche, an auctioneer, he has a better handle on the cartoon dial. BJJ is focused on a play, The Octoroon, but runs into issues staging it because the white actors quit, so he applies whiteface in order to play them himself. NYT Critic . Zoe from The Octoroon Summary & Breakdown | StageAgent The group tells Wahnotee of MCloskys guilt and go to capture MClosky, calling for his death, when MClosky escapes, lighting the shed and ship on fire as he does. [6], An Octoroon had a workshop production at Performance Space 122 from June 19 July 3, 2010, featuring Travis York, Karl Allen, Chris Manley, Ben Beckley, Gabe Levey, Jake Hart, Margaret Flanagan, Amber Gray, Mary Wiseman, LaToya Lewis, Kim Gainer, and Sasheer Zamata. 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. At the Plantation Terrebonne in Louisiana, Dido and Minnie chat about the arrival of George, and the passing of his uncle, their previous master. Act II begins with Scudder showing off his camera, when Pete, an older slave, enters to say the estate has officially been put up for sale. The aesthetic effect of the figure is essentially theatrical, encouraging the strongly empathetic participation of the viewer with both form and meaning. Although she and her children were free, Picquet was stuck in New Orleans until Williams' brother gave her a portion of the proceeds from selling Williams' furniture. This role is. After they leave, MClosky reveals he actually hates the Peytons and vows to sweep [them] from this section of the country (33). Abolitionist John Brown was hanged just three days before the play's debut, which is seen as one of the catalyst events that started the Civil War.
A theatrical, melodramatic reality is created to tell the story of an octoroon woman (a person who is black) named Zoe and her quest for identity and love. Louisa Picquet, the Octoroon, or, Inside Views of Southern Domestic Life George reluctantly agrees. Dora, oblivious to George's lack of affection for her, enlists Zoe's help to win him over. Playwright taunts BJJ, and laments how theatre has changed since his death. Harder to overcome will be the discovery by MClosky, the villainous overseer who now owns half the estate, that Zoes freedom papers are not valid and therefore shes to be sold with the rest of the enslaved. Chapter-by-chapter summaries and multiple sections of expert analysis, The ultimate resource for assignments, engaging lessons, and lively book discussions. Although Zoe is technically a freed woman, interracial marriage was still taboo at the time, and she and George face a lot of obstacles to. What ensues is an upside down, topsy-turvy world where race and morality are challenged and intensified. If there are three dates, the first date is the date of the original It is an adaptation of Dion Boucicault's The Octoroon, which premiered in 1859. Despite the happiness Zoe stands dying and the play ends with her death on the sitting-room couch and George kneeling beside her. A $300-million (minimum) gondola to Dodger Stadium? Thanks for exploring this SuperSummary Study Guide of The Octoroon by Dion Boucicault. While posing, MClosky comes from behind and kills Paul to take the letter. Adding to the meta-theatrical fun, Rob Nagle, who plays the part of Playwright (a.k.a. publication online or last modification online. The play then ends with a final image of Wahnotee standing triumphantly at Pauls grave over MCloskys dead body. After she takes the liquid, Scudder enters and informs them of MCloskys guilt and the found letter, but it is too lateZoe is dying. This character allowed abolitionists to draw attention to the sexual . Where: The Fountain Theatre, 5060 Fountain Ave., L.A.When: 7 p.m. Fridays-Mondays.
[21] The limited season at Peet's Theatre is ran from June 23 to July 29, 2017. It contains elements of Romanticism and melodrama. 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. Note: When citing an online source, it is important to include all necessary dates. Why is Frank McCourt really pushing it? The word Octoroon signifies "one-eighth blood" or the child of a Quadroon by a white.
In May 1860, Mattison met with Picquet to help her raise money to free her mother from bondage. Quadroon - Wikipedia 1 May 2023
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