Adapted for the stage by Frank Galati
John Steinbeck's epic tale of the displaced Joad family offers a timely look at hardship and resilience amid the American Dust Bowl. Presented in partnership with IU’s College of Arts and Sciences' Themester: sustainability: Thriving on a Small Planet (with the generous support of Jane Pauley and Garry Trudeau).
Read more about educational components of the production and opportunities for students>
SPONSORS
Ivy Tech Community College
Indiana University College of Arts and Sciences' Themester
Indiana Humanities Council
Bill and Karen Hicks
Dr. John Labban
Public Talkbacks on Sustainability Issues: Sept 4, 11, & 12
• Michael Hamburger (IU Professor of Geophysics, Chair of the 2010 Themester faculty advisory committee) and Sara Pryor (IU Professor of Geography, climate change specialist)
Saturday 9/4, following the 2pm matinee
• Distinguished Professor Scott Sanders (IU Distinguished Professor of English and author of A Conservationist Manifesto)
Saturday 9/11, following the 3pm matinee
• Steve Watt (IU Professor of English and Associate Dean for Undergraduate Education; drama specialist)
Sunday 9/12, following the 2pm matinee
Read Below for Information About:
Historical Context: The American Dust Bowl
Detailed Plot Synopsis: The Grapes of Wrath
Video: Steinbeck's Inspiration for The Grapes of Wrath
About the Author: John Steinbeck
About the Theatrical Adaptation: Frank Galati and the Steppenwolf Theatre
Themester 2010: Sustain-ability: Thriving on a Small Planet
Historical Context: The American Dust Bowl
Struggling under the economic slump of the stock market collapse, the Great Depression marked one of the longest and most crippling periods of the 20th century. Against the backdrop of financial failings, severe drought hit the Midwest and southern plains, destroying crops and forcing many families to migrate in search of food and employment.
Detailed Plot Synopsis: The Grapes of Wrath
“We ain’t gonna die out. People is goin’ on – changin’ a little maybe, but goin’ right on.”
Released on parole from prison, Tom Joad returns home to find his childhood farm empty, his family victims of the bank’s repossessions. Along with the Reverend Jim Casy, who he meets en route, he travels to his Uncle’s farm to find his family.
Reunited after four long years, the Joads take to the road in search of work, clinging to the advertised agricultural wealth of California. Route 66 to the West is teeming with families travelling towards the promise of prosperity, forcing the Joads to accept the possibility that their prospects may not be as they had hoped.
Along the road the family diminishes, through death and desertion, and yet through the thick of it all Ma leads them on and away from their life in Oklahoma. Their journey, encumbered by discrimination, lack of work, and morale draws to an abortive halt when Tom leaves to fight for the oppressed labourers, and the heavily pregnant Rose of Sharon miscarries.
Out West, with no home and no prospects, the Joads bleak end is buoyed by Ma’s strength of conviction and hope for the future.
Video: Steinbeck's Inspiration for The Grapes of Wrath
About the Author: John Steinbeck
About the Theatrical Adaptation: Frank Galati and the Steppenwolf Theatre
The play adaptation of The Grapes of Wrath was commissioned by the Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago, for their 1988 season. The playwright, Frank Galati, adapted the novel into a two act play, crafting Steinbeck’s Nobel-winning prose into a poignant theatrical adaptation. The original production won Tony awards for Best Play and Best Direction, and ran for 188 performances during its time on Broadway. There has been much praise for Mr. Galati's adaptation:
"Mr. Galati, a director of exquisite taste, strips away sentimentality and cheap optimism . . . Some of the audience seemed to be weeping, too, and not out of sadness, I think. The Steppenwolf ''Grapes of Wrath'' is true to Steinbeck because it leaves one feeling that the generosity of spirit that he saw in a brutal country is not so much lost as waiting once more to be found. "~NY Times, Mar 23 1990
"You would have to have a heart carved out of granite not to be moved by this magnificent production,"~The Sunday Express' - Clive Hirschhorn- London 1989
"Frank Galati's adaptation of John Steinbeck's 1939 novel was praised for retaining its epic quality without getting bogged down in rhetoric. Michael Billington of the Guardian thought that in one respect, the stage version improved on the book. "Speeches that on the page looked sentimental or rhetorical, come alive in the mouths of these excellent Chicago actors"~LA Times, July 8, 1989
Themester 2010: Sustain-ability: Thriving on a Small Planet
Cardinal Stage Company is honored to be a part of the Indiana University College of Arts and Sciences Themester. As part of the Themester program, Cardinal creates and distributes extensive educational materials to students and teachers exploring the theme of Sustain-ability as it applies to the production of The Grapes of Wrath. Cardinal will also present 3 student matinee performances, allowing over 700 area high school students to see the production free of charge. Read more about the Themester program and this year's theme below.
About Themester: The College Themester is an initiative of the IU College of Arts and Sciences to engage the collective knowledge and creativity of the faculty and to involve undergraduate students in the exploration of ideas across the disciplines. The Themester topic for the Fall 2010 semester is sustain•ability: Thriving on a Small Planet.
Grounded in undergraduate curriculum, Themesters are imagined as extended opportunities for the College of Arts and Sciences to engage with students, colleagues, and the wider community in conversation on challenging issues. Themester aims to be a catalyst for students and faculty alike to move IU's curriculum and research forward in exciting directions. Themesters should also push boundaries by encouraging the community to reconsider old truths and investigate new perspectives. Themester promotes cross-departmental collaboration and experients with bridging disciplines and approaches.
About the 2010 Theme: Sustain•ability
Sustain•ability represents a place of reconciliation and synergy, occurring where economic, social, and environmental concerns are simultaneously met over the long term. Implementation of sustainability involves both the arts and the sciences to enhance human lives. Sustainability entails both social equity and respect for the biosphere and human cultures. It requires human creativity in all its dimensions to assure both current and potential thriving.
Our future depends on our ability to identify sustainable solutions, at local to global scales, to the many pressing challenges of the 21st century. The challenges -- from global climate change, dramatic loss of habitat and biodiversity, and displacements of people and new intersections of cultures to pervasive pollution; dwindling supplies of fossil fuels, fresh water, and arable land; increasing vulnerability to natural disasters; and unstable economic systems associated with ever-widening gaps between the wealthy and poor -- will require collaboration across the physical and social sciences, the fine arts and humanities, the many professions, and across all walks of life within the public and private sectors. The Fall 2010 Themester will catalyze IUB’s emerging leadership in sustainability, providing students and faculty an opportunity to begin the interdisciplinary work needed to create sustainable communities locally and around the world, and creating an educational opportunity for undergraduates that they will carry far into the future.
Learn more at www.themester.indiana.edu.
