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San Fernando Valley State College
LACUNA
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A One .Act Play
An abstract submitted in partial satisfaction of the
requirements for the dep·cc of Hnster of Arts in
Snmes Ii'rederick Stewart
�July,
ID7G
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'l'he abstract o::f Jmnes l''rederick Stewart is approved:
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San Fernando Valley State College
J'uly,
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1970
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ABSTHACT
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LACUNA
li. One Act Play
by
Jantes
1-1astcr of f�rts in Drnma
,_Tuly�
���'.:;
19?0
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is a play that revolves around an evening of (;risis
encountered by Jack and Fhylli.s Aldric.h when they lenrn "''bout
the involvc;·wnt of' thei.r· nit·ef'c�·�
con
-- _,
CH ye�,-�
'"' cld
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pus p::.·otest movement�
•
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c�nn
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As the curtain rises, Phyll:L:; Aldrich� n1one in her well
furnished suburban home,
television�
is watclnng tht.:� six otclock news on
The lead story concerns a student at the local
university who hvs been !:>UGpende(t
questJon if:: Phyllis 1s son
of the JH�wscast
o
t
t}Je schonl for writing
Iknk, who a:r-rives home in the raiddlo
He attempts to tell his version of the events,
but Phyllis refu8es to listen�
na.
from
She is too upset to hear about
As both mother and son seek refuge in separate parts of
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When Phyllis informs her husband of th e ir son's suspen-
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ing Phyllis
Phyllis balks at this,
ation.
on the
to leave the room and that he will handle the situ�,
discussion.,
She
subservient wife and mother.
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and insists on being in
has finally reached that point. in her
life where she can no longer
I his
however,
tolerate her customary role of
Reluctantly,
Jack acquiesces to
vdfe 1 s assertiveness, pours himself a double shot of Scotch,
and calls in Hanh: for a conference�
But., instead of settling
the predicament,
family argu.tnent
an angry and bi ttrn"
wherein father, mother,
! al,
long held,
and present domestic gr:u::vances�
past
professor, Dr·e
t
and son confront each other with sever-
only slightly abates with the arrival of Hu.n.l::: 1 s
ence
erupts
Arnold Lewis
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who has
come
The row
political scito
the
Aldrich
under the mistaken impression that Jack is in accord vd.th
home
pension order as
of academic freedom6
an issue
Jack angrily corrects Lewis 1 s misinterpretation and ac·�
cuses
of insp:i.ring ca:mpus unrest
the young professor
e thi cs
into defending his
dissuade
even went
�
far as to
talk the
President Hartman's office.
disclosure ,
Forced
I.ew:i.s discloses that he did more to
Eank than encourage him.
so
&
In fact� Lewis continues, he
hoy out o:f planting u. bcmb in
AC'.mitting to the
truth of Lewis 1 s
Hank further revea.ls that he went ahead and planted
the bomb in spite
of' his teacher 1 s achrice
e
li'r•a;rtic2.lly,
the
tb.ree adults try to seek a way to prevent the explosion when
they r..tre
cr
interrupted by the ringin[� of the telephone
is one of Ilankvs
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and thr..t
President
Hartman
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time ever, had been working late in his office and
the
first
was
killed instantly.
scc>.re
The call-
friends, who relates the awful news that
the bomh detonated on schedule,
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Insisting that he had not intended to lcill Hartman,
him, th�)
j·wni.c
for
only
stricken Hank takes fli(�ht � begging his
fathe:r to hei:p h:i.m flee the country�
Fearing that he might be
L�!��l�.:.:i=c�!<:_�-��·2:' �--=-�'!:�.�P�E'.l_(;;X_! !:.���i.-���so �:_<?t.V.:€?.!'!.�----�ll?E�}:;r. ���:::��c_·:
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after,
the police
arrive,
searching
for Hank..
Jack cannot de­
cide whether to aid his so1� and risk becoming an accessory,
turn the boy over to the authorities�
question.
She tells
walk out.
For Phyllis,
oi�
there :is no
Hank or she wi ll
Jack that he must protect
A.s the curtain falls, Jack is still unable to make
up his mind.
above synopsis o:f the drrunc;d;ic action in La� has
The
been provided in this abstract so that the following discussion
of the play's underlying artistic
intent may proceed on [� more
comprehensible basiso
Of the sev·eral areas of symb o l i c meaning
signed
to convey,
the most
important thematic
to explore
is ti-1e crucial problem of
chusm that
exists today between the
sons are standing, toe to toe1
statements
tions pcrc.ci ve
ted this point
11relate11
deaf exchanges
and
of nonnegotia-
tha-t
two ger.era-
the
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iilustra-
in my play by h<nring Jack make a futile endeavor
to Hank by drawing upon his own experiences when he
fails
His son,
imminent threat
pills,
.fathers
In my view, the primary factor
college
He is unsucc:cs�.::;ful, of course� be�·
a
to realize that the world·in which he grew up
offered a v<:wtly different IH'onpect
now..
older and younger genera�
] ife in cor:;pletely clifforont ways.
was a young man at.
cause he
de­
the secm:i.ngly unbridgeable
this br·oakdoYTtl in und.erstunding is
causing
to
of position.
in
was
issue :i. t attempts
Instead of communieating \ITi th each other,
tions.
ble
L��
for the
future thnn it does
for exe;mple, has never known a vror ld w·i t.hout the
of global nuclear Hnnihilat.ion, birth control
ove:r.�population,
ir:n:nrers.ibJ.B environmental pollution,
television, the widespread use of consciousness-altering drugs
and opiates, or an:JY of the other culture shattering innovations
which have come about since the end of
the
other hand,
is
eqna1J.y
Bank,
on
obtuse when he blindly rejects CVfJry
view his fathe.r· expresses if it appears to be outdated or
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Another s;ymbolic
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relevant.
,
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d(:nrice
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employed to clrnm.-s�tize the theme
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was
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first name I se le cte d for the Aldrich's son.
As many who remember the
days o f big time radi o might have no:--
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Hank Aldrich is none other than 11Hcnry Aldrichtt brought
ticed,
up to date ..
Henry, i t will be recalled, was continually [set tin!:';
into all kinds of incredible scrapes
at school.,
his trouble s were usually straightened out by the
Nevertheless,
end of each
·radio program, often with a great deal of help from hi s stern,
long SUffering'
l:JUt basically SympathetiC
:father
contemporary Henry Aldrich gets into trouble
play1
the gravely serious
however;
readily
'any morec
J:f today's 1'Jro
lose his business,
worked for.
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s
T,'fllell the
school in my
consequences cannot be so
"smoothed ov�,n�11 by an understanding father.
ing to J.iiss Eggleston for Henry's
Hhe
at
e
misbehavior just
Aldrich protects his son,
Apologiz�
is not enough
he could
the house, and everything else he has ever
11To Hell with all those things,11 implores
your son!
Phyllis,
You can't be thinldng of turning him in t 11
T'he p1Ry concludes with Jack's decision left in doubt.
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termJ.n<:n:ed the dram2 in this marme:z- nc't bt;>:canse I could not de-
.cide on ail ending, but hec;:;use I wanted the audience to respond
in their own minds to the dilemma.,
tion going to
itants,
do about
radicals,
i:heir offspring?
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the ever increasing number of young mil-
d:Lssidents, activists,
and protestors who are
Will the parents keep faith with them,
or
will they vindictively see to it that their progeny m�e all
sent to
one
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Wh::\t is the older gener2l­
jai1?
The posing
of this vi tal question was,
for me,
of ·the more signi fica.nt artistic inteiTtions of Laeun.::t.
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