Sticks and Bones
Encyclopedia
Sticks and Bones is a 1971 play by David Rabe. The black comedy
focuses on David, a blind
Vietnam War
veteran
who finds himself unable to come to terms with his actions on the battlefield and alienated from his family because they neither can accept his disability nor understand his wartime experience. Rabe explores the conflicted feelings of many civilians during the era by parody
ing the ideal American
family as it was portrayed on the television
sitcom
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
. Beneath the perfect facade of the playwright
's fiction
al Nelson family are layers of prejudice
, bigotry
, and self-hatred that are peeled away slowly as they interact with their physically and emotionally damaged son and brother.
Sticks and Bones was the second play in Rabe's Vietnam trilogy, following The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel and preceding Streamers
. A veteran himself, he wrote it while a graduate student at Villanova University
, where it was staged in 1969. The off-Broadway
production, directed by Jeff Bleckner
, opened on November 7, 1971 at Joseph Papp
's Public Theater, where it ran for 121 performances. The cast included David Selby
as David, Tom Aldredge
as Ozzie, Elizabeth Wilson
as Harriet, Cliff DeYoung
as Rick, and Charles Siebert
as Father Donald.
Critical reaction and audience response were positive, and Papp decided to move the play uptown. With Drew Snyder replacing Selby but the rest of the cast intact, the Broadway
production opened on March 1, 1972 at the John Golden Theatre
, where it ran for 246 performances.
In 1973, David Rabe wrote the teleplay
for and Robert Downey Sr. directed a CBS
television movie based on Rabe's play
. The cast included DeYoung as David, Aldredge as Ozzie, and Anne Jackson
as Harriet. The subject matter was so controversial half of the network's affiliates refused to broadcast the film.
Nominations
in his 1977 play The Vietnamization of New Jersey
.
Black comedy
A black comedy, or dark comedy, is a comic work that employs black humor or gallows humor. The definition of black humor is problematic; it has been argued that it corresponds to the earlier concept of gallows humor; and that, as humor has been defined since Freud as a comedic act that anesthetizes...
focuses on David, a blind
Blindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
veteran
Veteran
A veteran is a person who has had long service or experience in a particular occupation or field; " A veteran of ..."...
who finds himself unable to come to terms with his actions on the battlefield and alienated from his family because they neither can accept his disability nor understand his wartime experience. Rabe explores the conflicted feelings of many civilians during the era by parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
ing the ideal American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
family as it was portrayed on the television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
sitcom
Situation comedy
A situation comedy, often shortened to sitcom, is a genre of comedy that features characters sharing the same common environment, such as a home or workplace, accompanied with jokes as part of the dialogue...
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet
The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet is an American sitcom, airing on ABC from October 3, 1952 to September 3, 1966, starring the real life Nelson family. After a long run on radio, the show was brought to television where it continued its success, running on both radio and TV for a couple of years...
. Beneath the perfect facade of the playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
's fiction
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
al Nelson family are layers of prejudice
Prejudice
Prejudice is making a judgment or assumption about someone or something before having enough knowledge to be able to do so with guaranteed accuracy, or "judging a book by its cover"...
, bigotry
Bigotry
A bigot is a person obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices, especially one exhibiting intolerance, and animosity toward those of differing beliefs...
, and self-hatred that are peeled away slowly as they interact with their physically and emotionally damaged son and brother.
Sticks and Bones was the second play in Rabe's Vietnam trilogy, following The Basic Training of Pavlo Hummel and preceding Streamers
Streamers
Streamers is a play by David Rabe. After premiering at the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut in 1975, the production transferred to Broadway, opening on April 21, 1976 at Lincoln Center's Mitzi E. Newhouse Theatre, where it ran for 478 performances...
. A veteran himself, he wrote it while a graduate student at Villanova University
Villanova University
Villanova University is a private university located in Radnor Township, a suburb northwest of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States...
, where it was staged in 1969. The off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
production, directed by Jeff Bleckner
Jeff Bleckner
Jeff Bleckner is an American theatre and television director.Born in Brooklyn, New York, Bleckner made his directorial debut off-Broadway with The Unseen Hand/Forensic and the Navigators, an evening of one-act plays by Sam Shepard, in 1970...
, opened on November 7, 1971 at Joseph Papp
Joseph Papp
Joseph Papp was an American theatrical producer and director. Papp established The Public Theater in what had been the Astor Library Building in downtown New York . "The Public," as it is known, has many small theatres within it...
's Public Theater, where it ran for 121 performances. The cast included David Selby
David Selby
David Lynn Selby is an American character and stage actor. He has worked in movies, soap operas and television. The naturally black-headed Selby is best known for playing the roles of Quentin Collins on the ABC-TV serial, Dark Shadows , and as the evil and compassionate...
as David, Tom Aldredge
Tom Aldredge
Thomas Ernest "Tom" Aldredge was an American television, film and stage actor.-Life and career:Aldredge was born in Dayton, Ohio, the son of Lucienne Juliet and W. J. Aldredge, a colonel in the United States Army Air Corps...
as Ozzie, Elizabeth Wilson
Elizabeth Wilson
Elizabeth Welter Wilson is an American actress. She was elected to the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2007.-Life and career:Wilson was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the daughter of Marie Ethel and Henry Dunning Wilson, who was an insurance agent...
as Harriet, Cliff DeYoung
Cliff DeYoung
Clifford Tobin DeYoung is an American actor and musician.DeYoung was born in Los Angeles, California. He attended California State University....
as Rick, and Charles Siebert
Charles Siebert
Charles Siebert is an American actor and television director. As an actor he is best known for his role as Dr. Stanley Riverside II on Trapper John, M.D. which he portrayed from 1979-1986...
as Father Donald.
Critical reaction and audience response were positive, and Papp decided to move the play uptown. With Drew Snyder replacing Selby but the rest of the cast intact, the Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
production opened on March 1, 1972 at the John Golden Theatre
John Golden Theatre
The John Golden Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 252 West 45th Street in midtown-Manhattan. Designed in a Moorish style along with the adjacent Royale Theatre by architect Herbert J. Krapp for Irwin Chanin, it opened as the Theatre Masque on February 24 1927 with the play Puppets of Passion...
, where it ran for 246 performances.
In 1973, David Rabe wrote the teleplay
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
for and Robert Downey Sr. directed a CBS
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
television movie based on Rabe's play
Sticks and Bones (film)
Sticks and Bones is a television film adapted from the Tony Award-winning play of the same title by David Rabe. The black comedy focuses on David, a blind Vietnam War veteran who finds himself unable to come to terms with his actions on the battlefield and alienated from his family because they...
. The cast included DeYoung as David, Aldredge as Ozzie, and Anne Jackson
Anne Jackson
Anne Jackson is an American actress of television, stage, and screen.-Life and career:Jackson, the youngest of three sisters, was born in Millvale, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Stella Germaine and John Ivan Jackson, a barber who ran a beauty parlor...
as Harriet. The subject matter was so controversial half of the network's affiliates refused to broadcast the film.
Awards and nominations
Awards- 1972 Tony Award for Best PlayTony Award for Best PlayThe Tony Award for Best Play is an annual award celebrating achievements in live American theatre, including musical theatre, honoring productions on Broadway in New York. It currently takes place in mid-June each year.There was no award in the Tony's first year...
- 1972 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a PlayTony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a PlayThis is a list of winners and nomination of the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Featured Actress. The award was first presented in 1947.-1940s:* 1947: Patricia Neal – Another Part of the Forest* 1949: Shirley Booth – Goodbye, My Fancy-1950s:...
(Elizabeth Wilson) - 1972 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a PlayDrama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a PlayThe Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play was first awarded at the 1974–1975 Drama Desk Awards and has been awarded every year since. Before the 21st Drama Desk Awards, acting awards were given without making distinctions between roles in straight dramas as opposed to musicals, nor were...
(Tom Aldredge) - 1972 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a PlayDrama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a PlayThe Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play was first awarded at the 1974–1975 Drama Desk Awards and has been awarded every year since...
(Jeff Bleckner) - 1972 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set DesignDrama Desk Award for Outstanding Set DesignThe Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design is presented by the Drama Desk, a committee composed of New York City theatre critics, writers, and editors...
(Santo Loquasto) - 1972 Outer Critics Circle AwardOuter Critics Circle AwardThe Outer Critics Circle Awards are presented annually for theatrical achievements both on and Off-Broadway and were begun during the 1949-1950 theater season. The awards are decided upon by theater critics who review for out-of-town newspapers, national publications, and other media outlets...
for Best Play
Nominations
- 1972 Tony Award for Best Direction of a PlayTony Award for Best Direction of a PlayThe Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play has been given since 1960. Before 1960 there was only one award for both play direction and musical direction, then in 1960 the award was split into two categories: Dramatic and Musical. In 1976 the Dramatic category was renamed to Play...
(Jeff Bleckner) - 1972 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a PlayTony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a PlayThe Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play presented since 1947, is awarded to actors in productions of new or revival plays.-1940s:*1947 - José Ferrer – Cyrano de Bergerac / Fredric March – Years Ago...
(Tom Aldredge)
Influence
The play was parodied by Christopher DurangChristopher Durang
Christopher Ferdinand Durang is an American playwright known for works of outrageous and often absurd comedy. His work was especially popular in the 1980s.- Life :...
in his 1977 play The Vietnamization of New Jersey
The Vietnamization of New Jersey
-External links:*...
.
External links
- Sticks and Bones at the Lortel Archives Internet Off-Broadway DatabaseLortel ArchivesThe Lortel Archives, or the Internet Off-Broadway Database is an online database that catalogues theatre productions shown off-Broadway.The archives are named in honor of actress and theatrical producer Lucille Lortel.-See also:...