Essays Regarding The Children's Hour
The following essays are provided in order to aid in the understanding of Hellman's script, Ann's concept/direction, and the implications made from both the text and our department's production of Lillian Hellman's The Children's Hour.
by Mercè Cuenca &
María Isabel Seguro
Even though the reception of Lillian Hellman's play centered on Mary's slander, most of the backlash for the play centered around its queer themes. Several contemporary critics view The Children's Hour as homophobic; however, Cuenca and Seguro argue that the play's "articulation of lesbianism is an indictment of the patriarchal containment of women's political and sexual desire" -- meaning, Hellman wrote this play as a rebuttal to the rumors that she herself was queer because she was financial and romantically independent from men or, put simply, a feminist.
by Rebecca Weaver
This is a chapter from my MA thesis which focused on Lillian Hellman's play, The Children's Hour. The main focus of this chapter is discussing Hellman's intention versus the reception of her play as well as looking strictly at the text to determine what the focus is--the morality of Mary's lie or the queerness of the lie's content.
Excerpt from José Esteban Muñoz's
Crusing Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity
In Ann's first email to the cast about the direction of UoI's production of The Children's Hour, she talks about this idea of queer futurism--specifically about José Esteban Muñoz and his discussion of the possibility of a queer future. This idea of a queer future is what we are searching for in our production of Lillian Hellman's The Children's Hour. This particular excerpt from Muñoz's work presents this idea of a queer future, the mode in which queerness exists and is experienced or expressed, and theatre as a place to find hope "as a backward glance that enacts a future vision." My own personal notes are included to provide more context.
Excerpt from José Esteban Muñoz's
Crusing Utopia: The Then and There of Queer Futurity
In concluding his essay on Queer Futurity, Muñoz discusses his argument, concluding that "we must always be future bound in our desires and designs." Queerness may not yet be here, but it is approaching "like a crashing wave of potentiality." Munoz implores us to step out of the "here and now" in order to focus on the "there and then." His insistence in focusing on something "else, something better, something dawning" is exactly what we should be doing with The Children's Hour; by looking backward on a pivotal piece of dramatic literature in queer history, perhaps we can envision this utopia that Muñoz puts forward.
by Nkenna Akunna and JD Stokely
In this essay/podcast, Nkenna Akunna and JD Stokely discuss their experiences as black, queer theatre artists and the possibility of a queer future. As Akunna states, "As we think about queer futures in theatre… I don’t know how we move forward without reckoning with death in a much deeper way.