English Teachers

THE STORY: Three generations of women from a well-known, and for the most part respectable, family of English teachers live under the same roof in the twin towns of Ceredo-Kenova, West Virginia, in 1960. Polly, a spinster and grand dame of the Huntington Community Players, brings shame to the family after being fired from teaching for allowing one of her students to read from Allen Ginsberg's epic poem Howl. Polly's losing her job infuriates her widowed sister, Vic, also an English teacher, as such a scandal may undermine her effort to be elected as the Democratic candidate for the sixteenth-district seat to the West Virginia House of Delegates. Vic is also concerned about the influence Polly has on her fifteen-year-old daughter, Lib, a baritone-playing misfit of a girl who is madly in love with the handsome boarder, Bobby, a history student at nearby Marshall College, and one of Vic's campaign aides. Miss Ruthie, Vic's campaign manager, encourages Vic to distance herself from Polly and tries to lure Lib away from Polly's influence by telling Lib she will end up with an unhappy manless life. Mary, the self-righteous matriarch of the family, tries her best to keep order and peace in her house. In a moment of desperation, Polly escapes to New York, and, after her brief, failed venture there, turns to Bobby for comfort. Ultimately, Vic wins the election by Miss Ruthie's manipulative shenanigans; Miss Ruthie marries a doctor; Lib becomes a majorette; and Polly ends up working as a check-out clerk. The play celebrates these women who defy the status quo in pursuit of their dreams, and explores the compromises each makes in their efforts to realize those dreams.Napier, Edward is the author of 'English Teachers' with ISBN 9780822217237 and ISBN 0822217236.