THE SHOWMAN AND THE SPIRIT
by Elisabeth Karlin
A Bronx high school in 1976. An idealistic young teacher is organizing an assembly to celebrate the life of the late James Hudson, a heroic African-American performer and activist. When the guest speaker, Lawrence Muffet–a friend of Hudson’s and a character actor known for playing the stereotypical roles that Hudson refused–arrives, it is under the impression that it is he himself who is to be honored. In the course of a school day, the teacher, the guest, his daughter and a school secretary collide in wayward efforts to do the right thing. As this clash of temperaments plays out under the specter of James Hudson, Muffet must confront his own legacy and his place in the shadow of the great man’s spirit.
- Cast Size: 2M 2W
- Running Time: 90+ minutes
- Royalty Rate: $75 per performance
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About the Playwright
Elisabeth Karlin is an award-winning playwright and essayist living in New York.
Her plays include Mourning Dove (Winner, 2023 Jerry Kaufman Award in Playwriting); The Night the Ocean Met the Bay (Published by Next Stage Press; Semi-Finalist, 2021 Bay Area Playwrights Festival); The Showman and the Spirit(Winner, 2017 Stanley Drama Award; Finalist Ashland New Play Conference; Semi-Finalist 2014 O’Neill National Playwrights Conference; Semi-Finalist, Bay Area Playwrights Festival; Staged reading HRC Showcase Theatre); Hotbed(Epic Play Readings, Project Y Theatre; Reading New Jersey City Theater Center); Bodega Bay (Produced by the Abingdon Theatre Company; Winner 2012 Kaufman Award; The Best Men’s Stage Monologues and The Best Women’s Stage Monologues 2014, Smith and Kraus); Wild Men of the Woods (The Lark Playwrights Week; Semi-Finalist, Premiere Stages Play Festival; Winner of the 2008 Kaufman Award; Published by Next Stage Press); A Mother’s Prayer (Mile Square Theater, Hoboken 7th Inning Stretch; Reading, Cooperstown New York); The Mooncalf (Produced by the Abingdon Theatre Company; Best Stage Scenes 2001, Smith and Kraus; Honorable Mention, Writers Digest Writing Competition); Lucy’s Last Date (Produced at the Third Street Theatre, Los Angeles; Named a Drama-Logue “Critic’s Choice”; Honorable Mention Dayton FutureFest). Her latest play, Trillium is slated for production in the spring of 2027. She is an alumna of the Project Y Playwrights Group and is a member of the American Renaissance Theater Company, The 36th Street Writers Block and The Dramatists Guild.
As an essayist, she is a noted writer and speaker on the works of Alfred Hitchcock. Her essays have appeared regularly in The Hitchcock Annual (Columbia University Press) and the Alfred Hitchcock Geek Blog as well as on lecture stages in the United Stages and Dublin. She sits on the advisory board of HitchCon, the International Hitchcock Conference.
Review The Showman and the Spirit.