Home

Browse Plays
Now Published
New Acquisitions
Musicals
Pulitzer Winners
Tony Winners
Manuscripts
ePlays
Special Collections
52nd Street Project
Children's Plays
Catalogues

Nonprofessional
Professional
Competitions
Foreign Agents

Page to Stage
Center Stage
atPlay Newsletter

Sign In
View Cart
Pay Invoice Fees
Edit Account
New Account
Sign Out

Author Bios
Incidental Music
Other Recordings
Sound Effects
Images and Video

FAQs
Ordering Plays
Applying for Rights
Shipping Info
Reprint Rights

Contact Info

Author Sites
Industry Links


Born Yesterday

Garson Kanin

Comedy
Full Length

12 men, 4 women (some of the male roles are bit parts): 16 total
Interior

This famous comedy enjoyed one of the longest runs in history.

Book/Item: BORN YESTERDAY
Book Type: DPS
Price: $8.00
ISBN/Code: 978-0-8222-0136-6

FEE: $75 per performance.

THE STORY: The vulgar, egotistic junkman Harry Brock has come to a swanky hotel in Washington to make crooked deals with government big-wigs. He has brought with him the charming but dumb ex-chorus girl Billie, whose lack of social graces embarrasses even Harry. Billie must be taught some of the amenities, and a few basic bits of information. The young, idealistic magazine reporter Paul Verrall, who has been investigating political skullduggery and is interested in Brock's activities, agrees for a salary, to educate Billie. He finds Billie has a natural honesty and a frank streak in her, and she begins to learn about history, politics, and what Harry really is and what he wants. At a dramatic moment she rebels against being merely a tool in Harry's crooked schemes and refuses to sign the documents which she has come to learn are part of an ambitious effort to defraud the public. This precipitates a crisis, as Billie readies to leave Harry for a new life of her own. Harry's reaction takes the only form he knows: physical violence. Billie now knows that she can no longer have anything to do with Brock, and realizes she and Paul have fallen genuinely in love. Just before she leaves Harry, she helps Paul get hold of incriminating documents of Harry's which will result in scandal and disaster. At the end, Paul and his promising pupil turn their backs on the anti-social and anti-democratic Brock and strike out on their own.


Quantity to Order: