About the Play:

Back Story is a comedy with a collaborative script by Joan Ackermann, Courtney Baron, Neena Beber, Constance Congdon, Jon Klein, Shirley Lauro, Craig Lucas, Eduardo Machado, Donald Margulies, Jane Martin, Susan Miller, John Olive, Tanya Palmer, David Rambo, Edwin Sanchez, and Adele Edling. This two-hander is based on brother and sister Ethan and Ainsley Belcher, characters created by Joan Ackermann, who wrote a detailed back story for them. Eighteen talented playwrights contributed monologues and scenes that illuminate various episodes in their lives and the phantom dad who left them – and their mother Gloria – for the wilds of Alaska. They cope, survive, and grow up over some twenty years.

Back Story is based on the idea that actors look for the back story of a character to help them create depth in a performance. Joan Ackerman wrote a short story (the back story) that would be the inspiration for the tale of a dysfunctional family. It illuminates various episodes in the young lives of Ainsley and Ethan Belcher. When Ethan is born in the worst blizzard of the century, his two-year-old sister, Ainsley, nearly sacrifices a toe trying to clear a path for the baby's arrival. That initial gesture of devotion blossoms into a tale of sibling loyalty, rivalry, and love that spans two decades. Each of the 18 playwrights in this series of monologues and scenes puts a distinctive spin on Ainsley's and Ethan's amusing and poignant struggles with life, each other, and the dad who chose not to return home to them after a two-week fishing trip to Alaska. Through various misadventures, sibling rivalry, and dreams deferred, they discover that their bond with each other runs deep.

    Time to Think, Joan Ackerman
    Good Morning to the Horse, Craig Lucas
    What Became of the Polar Bear, Mayo Simon
    The Reluctant Instrument, Neena Beber
    Ethan's Got Get, Edwin Sánchez
    Trying to Get There, Edwardo Machado
    Maid of Athens, David Rambo
    Moby Ethan at the Sculptor's Museum, Constance Congdon
    Turn Down, Shirley Lauro
    Misadventure, Donald Margulies
    Something To Do With Bolivia, Jon Klein
    Or Maybe Not, Adele Edling Shank
    Dead Men Make No Dollars, Val Smith
    The Deal, Jane Martin
    Blackfish, Courtney Baron
    Star Skating, John Olive
    Barbara Live at Canyon Ranch, Tanya Palmer
    Introducing Dad, Susan Miller
    Norman Rockwell's Thanksgiving in the Year 2000, Joan Ackermann

Back Story premiered in 2000 at the famed Actors Theatre of Louisville as part of the annual Festival of New American Plays, an influential showplace for playwrights. Since then the play has been mounted by high schools, colleges, and community theatres.

Cast: 1 female and 1 male (alternate casting any combination of actors up to 11 female and 11 male)

About the Playwright:

Joan Ackermann is an American playwright, journalist, and screenwriter. Over a dozen of her plays have been published and produced around the United States, and her adaptation of her play Off the Map was released as a feature film directed by Campbell Scott. She is the co-founder and Artistic Director of Mixed Company, the 55-seat theatre established over 30 years ago in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. A Special Contributor to Sports Illustrated for seven years, she has freelanced for many magazines, including Time, The Atlantic Monthly, and Esquire.