| by Paul Zindel: – 1971 Winner: Frowzy, acid-tongued, supporting herself and her two daughters by taking
in a decrepit old boarder, Beatrice Hunsdofer wreaks a petty vengeance on everybody about her. One daughter, Ruth, is a
pretty but highly-strung girl subject to convulsions; while the younger daughter, Matilda, plain and almost pathologically
shy, has an intuitive gift for science. Encouraged by her teacher, Tille undertakes a gamma ray experiment with marigolds
that wins a prize at her high school-and also brings on the shattering climax of this play. Proud and yet jealous, too
filled with her own hurts to accept her daughter's success, Beatrice can only maim when she needs to love and deride when
she wants to praise. Tortured, acerbic, slatternly, she is as much a victim of her own nature as of the cruel lot, which
has been hers. And yet, as Tillie's experiment proves, something beautiful and full of promise can emerge from even the
most barren, afflicted soil. This is the timeless lesson of the play and the root of its moving power and truth. "Let's
start with a single, simple word. Power…I don't know of a better (play) of its genre since The Glass Menagerie.." -
NY Post. "The play itself is like the lucky blooms; it survives, and is beautiful." - NY Times |
