WATER BY THE SPOONFUL is both a stand alone play and the middle piece in a trilogy of plays. Water premiered at the Hartford Stage (Connecticut) in 2011 and won the 2012 Pulitzer for Drama.
Elliot, A Soldier's Fugue is the first in the trilogy. Elliot premiered at Page 73 Productions (Philadelphia) in 2006. It was a finalist for the Pulitzer in 2007. The Happiest Song Plays Last, the third script in the trilogy, premiered at the Goodman Theatre (Chicago) in 2013.
All three plays have been produced around the world, including two New York premieres at Second Stage and productions in Armenia, Brazil, Germany and Puerto Rico. The trilogy is newly published by TCG publications.
Here, you can find synopses of all three plays, as shared on the author's website.
Hillman library has copies of all three plays available.
Elliot can be found at the reserve desk: PS3608.U3234 E55 2012
Happiest Song is available as an e-book.
For artists and actors, it is fascinating to follow Hudes' characters and those that intersect their lives across the three plays. At the same time, in the professional world, artists and actors often read other works by the same author, even if not directly related to their characters. Familiarizing oneself with the work of an author provides invaluable insights into how the author's texts, themes, characters, actions and aesthetics assemble a certain view of how we are, as humans, in the world. Hudes has written a number of other exciting plays including the musical Barrio GRRRL!, the book for In the Heights and Lulu's Golden Shoes, currently in production in Philadelphia.
ELLIOT A SOLDIER'S FUGUE
Elliot is a barrio man-child with a cheeseburger smile and a ticket to greatness: a Purple Heart for injuries in Iraq at the ripe age of 18. But between throwing out the first pitch at the Phillies game and appearances as Philly’s hometown hero, his leg wound has opened a haunting realization. Has he been walking blindly in his pop’s and grandpop’s footsteps his whole life?
“That rare and rewarding thing: a theatre work that succeeds on every level while creating something new. The playwright combines a lyrical ear with a sophisticated sense of structure to trace the legacy of war through three generations of a Puerto Rican family. Without ever invoking current politics, it manages to be a deeply poetic, touching, and often funny indictment of the war in Iraq.” -The New York Times (critics pick)
WATER BY THE SPOONFUL
Winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. A lonely adoptee in Japan. An IRS fuddy duddy who eats four donuts a day. A haiku-spouting reclusive guru. And two blood cousins from North Philly’s barrio. This motley crew gathers in an online chatroom to help each other stay sober one day at a time, revealing how the most unlikely companions can often best understand our secret selves.
“Beautifully resounding drama... The playwright examines an array of emotional toils by splashing together droplets of life’s bleak realities, harsh revelations, fragile successes and modest triumphs, all of which conspire like tiny specks of contrasting colors on a canvas. A rich, brilliant montage of American urban life that is as dazzling to watch as it is difficult to look away from.” -Peter Santilli, Associated Press
THE HAPPIEST SONG PLAYS LAST
In a barrio kitchen in North Philly, an activist-turned-professor moonlights as the local soup kitchen queen, cooking free rice and beans for any hungry neighbor. Halfway around the world, her cousin relives his military trauma on the set of a docudrama that’s filming in Jordan. With the Egyptian revolution booming in the distance, these two cousins sing a defiant song of legacy in the face of local and global unrest.
“Intensely engaging new drama. Hudes’ story not only comes with the unmistakable whiff of authenticity but conveys how none of our lives are entirely ordinary, and how small stuff actually connects to all kinds of big stuff, be it matters of global import, community progress or the cliches of Hollywood representation. Hudes is a very accomplished storyteller, a playwright with an emergent, fulsome American narrative.” -Chris Jones, The Chicago Tribune
Elliot, A Soldier's Fugue is the first in the trilogy. Elliot premiered at Page 73 Productions (Philadelphia) in 2006. It was a finalist for the Pulitzer in 2007. The Happiest Song Plays Last, the third script in the trilogy, premiered at the Goodman Theatre (Chicago) in 2013.
All three plays have been produced around the world, including two New York premieres at Second Stage and productions in Armenia, Brazil, Germany and Puerto Rico. The trilogy is newly published by TCG publications.
Here, you can find synopses of all three plays, as shared on the author's website.
Hillman library has copies of all three plays available.
Elliot can be found at the reserve desk: PS3608.U3234 E55 2012
Happiest Song is available as an e-book.
For artists and actors, it is fascinating to follow Hudes' characters and those that intersect their lives across the three plays. At the same time, in the professional world, artists and actors often read other works by the same author, even if not directly related to their characters. Familiarizing oneself with the work of an author provides invaluable insights into how the author's texts, themes, characters, actions and aesthetics assemble a certain view of how we are, as humans, in the world. Hudes has written a number of other exciting plays including the musical Barrio GRRRL!, the book for In the Heights and Lulu's Golden Shoes, currently in production in Philadelphia.
ELLIOT A SOLDIER'S FUGUE
Elliot is a barrio man-child with a cheeseburger smile and a ticket to greatness: a Purple Heart for injuries in Iraq at the ripe age of 18. But between throwing out the first pitch at the Phillies game and appearances as Philly’s hometown hero, his leg wound has opened a haunting realization. Has he been walking blindly in his pop’s and grandpop’s footsteps his whole life?
“That rare and rewarding thing: a theatre work that succeeds on every level while creating something new. The playwright combines a lyrical ear with a sophisticated sense of structure to trace the legacy of war through three generations of a Puerto Rican family. Without ever invoking current politics, it manages to be a deeply poetic, touching, and often funny indictment of the war in Iraq.” -The New York Times (critics pick)
WATER BY THE SPOONFUL
Winner of the 2012 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. A lonely adoptee in Japan. An IRS fuddy duddy who eats four donuts a day. A haiku-spouting reclusive guru. And two blood cousins from North Philly’s barrio. This motley crew gathers in an online chatroom to help each other stay sober one day at a time, revealing how the most unlikely companions can often best understand our secret selves.
“Beautifully resounding drama... The playwright examines an array of emotional toils by splashing together droplets of life’s bleak realities, harsh revelations, fragile successes and modest triumphs, all of which conspire like tiny specks of contrasting colors on a canvas. A rich, brilliant montage of American urban life that is as dazzling to watch as it is difficult to look away from.” -Peter Santilli, Associated Press
THE HAPPIEST SONG PLAYS LAST
In a barrio kitchen in North Philly, an activist-turned-professor moonlights as the local soup kitchen queen, cooking free rice and beans for any hungry neighbor. Halfway around the world, her cousin relives his military trauma on the set of a docudrama that’s filming in Jordan. With the Egyptian revolution booming in the distance, these two cousins sing a defiant song of legacy in the face of local and global unrest.
“Intensely engaging new drama. Hudes’ story not only comes with the unmistakable whiff of authenticity but conveys how none of our lives are entirely ordinary, and how small stuff actually connects to all kinds of big stuff, be it matters of global import, community progress or the cliches of Hollywood representation. Hudes is a very accomplished storyteller, a playwright with an emergent, fulsome American narrative.” -Chris Jones, The Chicago Tribune