Marvin's Room (play)

Marvin's Room is a play written by Scott McPherson. It concerns two sisters, Bessie, their father's saintly caretaker who has leukemia, and Lee, a wisecracking, psychologically unstable free spirit who has not helped with the caretaking. It is based upon McPherson's experiences with older relatives who lived in Florida. McPherson cared for his partner, cartoonist and activist Daniel Sotomayor, who died from AIDS. His experiences living in the darkest days of the AIDS epidemic influenced his writing.^[1] McPherson himself died in 1992 of AIDS at age 33.^[2]

Marvin's Room had its premiere in Chicago in 1990, directed by David Petrarca. It then played off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons, opening on 15 November 1991.^[3] It went on to run at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. The play won the 1992 Outer Critics Circle Award for best play, the 1992 Drama Desk Award for best play and the Joseph Jefferson Award in Chicago for best original work. It was adapted for a film of the same title in 1996.^[4]

Awards and nominations

• 1992 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play

References

1. ↑ Marvin's Room Women Take Care: Gender, Race, and the Culture of AIDS, by Katie Hogan, Published by Cornell University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8014-8753-6. Page 14.
2. ↑ A Door Left Ajar in 'Marvin's Room' by David Richards, Washington Post Staff Writer, January 5, 1997.
3. ↑ Walking the Tightrope That Is 'Marvin's Room' New York Times, December 12, 1991.
4. ↑ Two Wrenching Dramas Find Unexpected New Lives New York Times, December 8, 1996.

Further reading

• McPherson, Scott (1992). Marvin's Room (First edition ed.). New York: Plume drama. ISBN 0-452-26922-9. 
• Marvin's Room The Cambridge Guide to American Theatre, by Don B. Wilmeth, Leonard Jacobs. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2007. ISBN 0-521-83538-0. page 430.
• The Applause-Best Plays Theater Yearbook, 1990-1991: Featuring the Ten Best Plays of the Year, by Otis L. Guernsey, Jeffrey Sweet. Illustrated by Al Hirschfield. Applause Theatre Books, 2000. ISBN 1-55783-107-6. Page 476
• Marvin's Room. Dramatists Play Service, Inc. 1993. ISBN 978-0-8222-1312-3. 
• "MARVIN'S ROOM: A Study Guide", Public Theatre, February, 2004

External links

• Marvin's Room at the Internet Movie Database