About the Play:

Winner of the 1990 Tony Award and Outer Critics Circle Award

The Grapes of Wrath is a full-length drama adapted for the stage by Frank Galati, from the classic John Steinbeck novel of the same name. The story is well-known by now: the Joad family are driven from the dust bowl of Oklahoma in the early 1930s toward the promised land of California in search of a new home, jobs and dignity. Renowned first as a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, and then as a prize-winning motion picture, this is a powerful and deeply affecting stage version of one of the masterpieces of American literature.

The Grapes of Wrath tells the story of a nation through the eyes of the Joad family. Across the Midwest of America in the 1930s, a combination of dust storms which devastated farmlands and the eviction of tenant farmers drove thousands of families to leave their homes and hit the road, desperately hoping to find work and a better life in the fertile valleys of California, the land of the American Dream. The Joads are one such family. Desperately proud, but reduced to poverty when their Oklahoma farm is repossessed after a devastating drought, the Joads pile their meager belongings in one of many rickety vehicles criss-crossing the American landscape. Led by the indomitable Ma Joad, who is determined to keep the family together at any cost, and by the second-eldest son Tom Joad, they manage to endure what happened to so many people during this terrible time of the haves and the hungry have-nots. The Joads encounter formidable obstacles: greed, exploitation, violence, prejudice, and terrible deprivation with tenacity and humour before reaching the lush, but cruel, fields of California. There the family's waning hopes are dealt a final blow by the stark realities of the Great Depression when thousands of homeless American migrant workers experienced extreme hardships. And yet, despite the anguish and suffering which it depicts, the play is an epic story of courage, determination, and survival against the odds. Part naturalistic epic, part road trip and part inspirational gospel, The Grapes of Wrath is a soaring affirmation of the goodness, strength and perseverance of the human spirit as it battles against the adversities of nature and an uncaring society.

The Grapes of Wrath premiered in 1989 at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre, where it won the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Play. The production later transferred to London's West End at the Royal National Theatre and eventually to Broadway, in 1990 at the Cort Theatre where it won the Tony Award for Best Broadway Play. The play is regularly performed in regional repertory, middle school, high school, college, and community theatre productions.

Cast: 4 female, 18 male

What people say:

"…majestic … leaves one feeling that the generosity of spirit he saw in a brutal country is not so much lost as waiting once more to be found." — New York Times

"This is, overall, a thrilling theatrical achievement that gets its power from the still sharp relevance of its human message…." — New York Post

"The Grapes of Wrath is a lesson in history, stagecraft, and truth that we cannot afford not to learn." — New York Magazine

"The most impressive thing about Frank Galati's adaptation of The Grapes of Wrath may be the way he keeps faith with the book's epic sweep ... Galati's adaptation has become the standard for any theater group, big or small, that wants to do Steinbeck." — Los Angeles Times

About the Playwright:

Frank Galati (1943-2023) was an American director, writer, actor, and teacher. A long-time member of the legendary Steppenwolf Theatre Company in Chicago, he was winner of Tony Awards for the adaptation and direction of The Grapes of Wrath in 1990, and was nominated for an Oscar for co-adapting The Accidental Tourist for the screen. His long career also included teaching performance study at Northwestern University for nearly 40 years.