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Bad Seed
Bad Seed
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Author: William March Adapted by: Maxwell Anderson Publisher: Dramatists Play Service Format: Softcover # of Pages: 84 Pub. Date: 1956 ISBN-10: 0822200880 ISBN-13: 9780822200888 Cast Size: 4 female, 4 male, 1 small girl
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About the Play:
Bad Seed has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Female/Male Scenes.
Bad Seed is a full-length thriller adapted for the stage by Maxwell Anderson, from the novel of the same name by William March.
Rhoda is a seemingly perfect little girl who is able to charm her way
into getting just about anything she wants. However, her mother,
begins to suspect that Rhoda had something to do with a hideous
accident that happened on a school trip. Is Rhoda the good girl her
parents thought she was, or is she truly a Bad Seed? Especially
recommended for school and contest use.
Bad Seed is a classic noir thriller set in the 1950s. It's
not so much a whodunit as a why-did-they-do-it? Christine and Colonel
Kenneth Penmark are living in a small Southern town, enjoying a quiet
and peaceful life with their daughter, Rhoda. Little Rhoda is a
perfectly-dressed, pigtailed eight-year-old cherub with a few nasty
habits, like lying, cheating, theft and more. The story examines the
question of whether a tendency to criminality is inherited, or is
acquired from exposure to an unsavoury environment, usually a
dysfunctional community. In the course of the story, Rhoda's mother,
Christine must come to terms with the fact that her daughter may have
murdered a little classmate all because he beat her out for the
school's coveted penmanship medal. Rhoda lies and twists the truth
even when confronted after her mother discovers the penmanship award
hidden away in Rhoda's treasure box. Her mother is forced to face the
notion that even in a so-called good family, evil can still grow. And
the reason for this evil shocks Christine, for it concerns her own
special heritage and sparks a heated debate. These are the questions
that Bad Seed tackles in a frightening and memorable fashion.
One of Broadway's outstanding hits, Bad Seed has had
tremendous success in three genres. It began as a 1954 novel by
William March that sold a million copies in its first year
while winning critical acclaim. It opened on Broadway at the
Forty-Sixth Street Theatre (now Richard Rodgers Theatre) late in 1954
and spawned the 1956 cult film. It was shortlisted for the 1955
Pulitzer Prize for Drama (eventually losing to Cat on a Hot Tin Roof). The play has become a
favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops and remains a popular
choice for college,
high
school, and community theatre productions.
Cast: 4 female, 4 male, 1 small girl
What people say:
"Written with reserve and
skill...an extraordinary literate horror story and a superior bit of
theatre...a shattering story." — The New
York Times
"It is solely and honestly
meant to entertain…As purely purposeful diversion it ranks with
'Dracula' and sometimes sets your spine to as much
tingling…chilling." — New York Telegram
"...a double-decker rouser –
a sock melodrama and an absorbing study in crime. The second act
affords an absorbing crescendo. Either as a thriller or a unique
assertion of the heredity versus environment question, Bad
Seed will absorb you. There's a single word for this play:
Wow." — Washington Post & Times-Herald
"...an anguished mother tries
to cope with the painful discovery that her perfectly-behaved
eight-year-old may be a sociopath capable of cold-blooded murder....
The chills ... don't stop even after the curtain falls." —
The Cleveland Plain Dealer
About the Playwright:
Maxwell Anderson (1888-1956) was an award-winning American
playwright and screenwriter. Best known for his Hollywood screen
adaptations of his own plays including Key Largo, and Mary
of Scotland, he was the most successful playwright of his time
and most of his plays, including Mary of Scotland, enjoyed
long runs on Broadway. Both Your Houses won the Pulitzer Prize
and Winterset and Mary of Scotland won coveted Drama
League Awards.
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