About the Play:

Winner of the 1969 Obie Award

The Serpent is a full-length drama by Jean-Claude van Itallie (written in collaboration with Joseph Chaikin's Open Theater). This brilliant and fascinating tour de force in contemporary improvisational theatre explores the themes and events of the Book of Genesis, and relates the biblical parable of apples, serpents, and sibling rivalry to our modern experience with an eloquence and power which have earned it recognition as a milestone of American drama. The Serpent is arguably the most successful piece of ensemble theatre by any theatre group.

The Serpent is a unique play developed during workshops and improvisations by the Open Theatre in New York in the late 1960s, using a blend of choreographed movement, pantomime, human sounds and percussive music. Beginning at the Book of Genesis, The Serpent weaves biblical narrative with contemporary experience to craft a ceremonial journey for actors and audience. It traces human existence, from the search for happiness, to first encounters with evil, to our dialogue with our own mortality. The piece takes us from a fanciful interpretation of the story of Adam and Eve, the Garden of Eden, and Cain and Abel all the way to the assassination of John F. Kennedy. The key, however, is how we relate to these themes. How do we understand and grapple with violence? How do we as young people respond to and rationalize it? When do we "bite our apple" and how do we respond? It poses the question: what happens if we destroy it all?

The Serpent, which has a simple set and can be performed on the street, premiered in 1968 at Anne Guerrieri's Teatro del Arte in Rome as part of the open theatre movement, and toured in Europe. Subsequently performed in New York City and at the Loeb Drama Center, Cambridge, Massachusetts. The play has been performed in regional repertory, high school, college, and community theatre productions.

Cast: 7 female, minimum of 7 male (alternate casting 5 female, 5 male with doubling)

What people say:

"…single best piece that the avant-garde theatre has yet produced in the USA." — Harold Clurman, legendary theatre director and drama critic

"…the seminal work of The Open Theater, America's most important ensemble theatrical workshop." — New York Times

"…the visual richness, intellectual wonder, and surprise of a mystery play, whose function is to outline the boundaries of the human experience." — Evergreen Review

"Its dedication to storytelling is mesmerizing. The temptation of Eve seems hauntingly real, and that of Adam, even more so. The discovery of the word "kill" and its meaning is heartbreaking as witnessed by the memorable portrayal of Cain and Abel." — Backstage

"It is an extraordinary play, imposing, yet informal, continually surprising, and, to me, profoundly disruptive emotionally." — Village Voice

"The Serpent is a fascinating experience." — The Boston Herald Traveler

"…a theatrical master stroke." — The Christian Science Monitor

About the Playwright:

Jean-Claude van Itallie (1936-2021) was one of the most distinguished playwrights of the American avant-garde. Born in Brussels, Belgium, he was three when his family fled the Holocaust to America as refugees in 1940. He grew up on suburban Long Island, graduated Harvard in 1958, and in the 1960s was a seminal force in the explosive New York Off-Broadway theatre. He may be best-known for America Hurrah (his landmark counter-culture trilogy comprised of Interview, TV and Motel), The Serpent, Tibetan Book of the Dead, and his classic translations of Chekhov's major plays, which are prized by directors and actors for their clarity and actability, are possibly the most performed Chekhov versions on the American stage.