Experience

This volume contains three one-act plays in which Ralph Waldo Emerson is the principal character, imaging three critical periods in Emerson's life. The first play, Monuments, takes palace in 1873, toward the end of Emerson's life, as he is sailing down the Nile river with his daughter Ellen, struggling with memory and memories. The second play, Solid Seasons, is set in Henry David Thoreau's cabin at Walden Pond on July 4th, 1847, as Emerson attempts to persuade his protege to leave Walden and return to Concord. The Third play, Tender, is set in Emerson's home in January of 1842, as nine year old Louisa May Alcott arrives to inquire about Emerson's son Waldo, who is ill with Scarlett Fever. The three plays may be performed individually, or together as an evening.