About the Play:

Tobacco Road has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Male Monologues.

Tobacco Road is a full-length comedy by Jack Kirkland, based on the novel of the same name by Erskine Caldwell. A farm. A family. A car. What happens when the American Dream goes wrong? The Lester family of Georgia sharecroppers are the subject of Jack Kirkland's adaptation of Erskine Caldwell's novel.

Tobacco Road examines the extreme lengths people will travel for survival. In a rural shack on "Tobacco Road" in Georgia during the Great Depression, the dysfunctional and desperate Lester family faces eviction from their own land. With no money, fuel or seed, their future on the farm seems hopeless. Unmoved by his wife's pleas for a new life in the city, his daughter's misery with her lecherous new husband, or his son's questionable love affair with a travelling female preacher, stubborn patriarch Jeeter isn't going anywhere. The Lester family shows brutally honest truths and emotionally shocking decisions, both outrageously humorous and horrifying. Their unbearable hunger and desperation causes a shattering endgame, in which a final act of compassion outshines the meanness of their lives.

Tobacco Road premiered in 1933 at the Masque Theatre (later became the John Goldman Theatre) in New York City. Running for eight continuous years it broke records and remains the second-longest running play in Broadway history – a marvel for a non-musical drama. This heralded play enjoyed three Broadway revivals, several tours, and has become a staple of the American theatre.

Cast: 5 female, 6 male

About the Playwright:

Jack Kirkland (1902-1969) was an American playwright, producer, director and screenwriter. He began his career as a journalist, working for 17 newspapers, including the St. Louis Times and the New York Daily News. He soon moved on to writing plays. His greatest success was the play Tobacco Road, adapted from the Erskine Caldwell novel.