About the Play:

Night of the Dunce is a full-length drama by Frank Gagliano. A personal battle is going on inside a rather deserted public library. The meek male assistant librarian is falling in love with the girl at the check-out desk. A brash part-time assistant is buttering up the Head Librarian who finds herself at odds with a world in which people are cutting each other up in the streets, rather than reading books. On one level Night of the Dunce is a chilling, suspenseful melodrama, and on another a harrowing parable for our time, a warning of the continuing menace of authoritarianism.

Night of the Dunce opens in the low-keyed atmosphere of the Roads End branch of the public library, a decaying, ominous place, where no one comes to borrow books any more, despite the efforts of the staff to keep it a going concern. But the tension that hangs in the air affects them too, and they bicker among themselves, egged on by the scheming young temporary staff member who has wormed his way into the head librarian's confidence. Then mysterious phone calls are received, shadowy figures lurk outside, and a pair of unknown young men drop in and prowl aimlessly about the stacks. The head librarian, Mrs. Vickers, is willing to believe that their interest is reading – until the moment of seizure suddenly threatens, and the two young men turn out to be members of a gang of toughs calling themselves the Dunces. Their purpose is to take over the library and destroy it. Surrounded and besieged, Mrs. Vickers and her staff wage a seesaw battle to protect what they have and hold back the tide of ugliness which threatens to engulf them. In the end the night of threatened evil continues unresolved, but the courage and resourcefulness which have come forth to stave off destruction remain resolute as the lights dim and the defenders wait uncertainly for the attack which is sure to come. Night of the Dunce is well written, gripping theatre, which holds the audience in thrall from first to last.

Night of the Dunce premiered in 1966 at the legendary Cherry Lane Theatre off-Broadway in New York City and received critical acclaim. It played in 1968 at the famed Actors Theatre of Louisville.

Cast: 2 female, 6 male

What people say:

"…Gagliano reminds us that drama can begin instantly. In this case terror is in the air, and we feel it right away." — New York World Journal Tribune

"…(a) play of enormous imagination originality, and skill…." — Cue Magazine

"…a tensely holding suspense quality…." — New York Post

About the Playwright:

Frank Gagliano is an American playwright who was part of the 1960's group of off-Broadway playwrights that revitalized American drama. His plays have been performed off-Broadway and at regional theatres and universities around the US. He retired in 2010 as the Benedum Professor of theatre at West Virginia University, a chair he had held since 1976. He also was a founder of Carnegie Mellon University Drama's Showcase of New Plays.