The Oldest Boy: A Play in Three Ceremonies
by Sarah Ruhl

Name: The Oldest Boy: A Play in Three Ceremonies
Brand: Sarah Ruhl
SKU: 9780573705328
Rating: 4.05 (5 reviews)

The Oldest Boy: A Play in Three Ceremonies Cover

The Oldest Boy: A Play in Three Ceremonies Book Cover — The Oldest Boy: A Play in Three Ceremonies Cover

Highlights

Female

Male

120 minsPresent DayRole(s) for Asian Actor(s)Unit Set/Multiple Settings

Synopsis

In this moving exploration of parenthood, an American mother and a Tibetan father have a three-year-old son believed to be the reincarnation of a Buddhist lama.

When a Tibetan lama and a monk come to their home unexpectedly, asking to take their child away for a life of spiritual training in India, the parents must make a life-altering choice that will test their strength, their marriage, and their hearts.

The Oldest Boy is a richly emotional journey filled with music, dance, puppetry, ritual, and laughter — Sarah Ruhl at her imaginative best.

A meditation on attachment and unconditional love, the play asks us to believe in a world in which sometimes the youngest children are also the oldest and wisest teachers.

Press Reviews

"Ms. Ruhl's drama is among the most easily accesible from this poetic, venturesome playwright... yet it is marked by Ms. Ruhl’s inquisitive intelligence, clean-lined eloquence and spiky humor."
— The New York Times

"Gorgeous fluidity in the writing... Ruhl uses her beguiling storytelling skills, including a porous fourth wall and elements of ceremonial dance, music and singing, to make the mother's struggle a dramatically cogent one."
— Hollywood Reporter

Characters

Character	Gender	Age	Description
A Monk Tibetan, age immaterial	—	—	Tibetan, age immaterial
A Lama Tibetan, age immaterial	—	—	Tibetan, age immaterial
The Oldest Boy older than the lama, speaks for and moves the puppet, Tibetan	—	—	older than the lama, speaks for and moves the puppet, Tibetan
Father Tibetan mid-thirties to mid-forties	—	—	Tibetan mid-thirties to mid-forties
Mother white, mid-thirties to mid-forties	—	—	white, mid-thirties to mid-forties