The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail
A two-act play by Robert Edwin Lee and Jerome Lawrence written in 1970. Hal B. Wallis is producer of the film based on the play, for which both Lawrence and Lee wrote the screenplay. The play is based on the early life of the titular character, Henry David Thoreau, leading up to his night spent in a jail in Concord, Massachusetts. Thoreau was jailed for refusing to pay a poll tax on the grounds that the money might be used to pay for the Mexican-American War, which he opposed.
Contents
The original text
The play was first produced at the Ohio State University, opening on April 21, 1969 and directed by Dr. Roy Bowen. It received its professional debut at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. on October 23, 1970.
Translations and adaptations
Performance history in South Africa
Presented by PACT Drama in 1984 directed by Norman Coombes starring Michael McCabe, Gillian Garlick, Patricia Sanders, Neil McCarthy, Steffen Zoutendijk, Frantz Dobrowsky, Ronald Wallace, Julie Coghlan, Peter Terry, Dieter Hambloch/Matthew Rabinowitz, Sydney Chama, Jenny Sharp, Matthew Krouse, Guilio Biccari. Designer Chris van den Berg, lighting and senior stage manager Jane Gosnell.
Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Night_Thoreau_Spent_in_Jail
The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail theatre programme, 1984.
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