Anatomy of Gray

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Anatomy of Gray
Written by Jim Leonard Jr.
Characters

Galen P. Gray
June Muldoon
Rebekah Muldoon
Crutch Collins
Belva Collins
Pastor Phineas Wingfield
Tiny Wingfield
Homer
Maggie

Various townspeople

Contents

Original language English
Genre Drama
Setting Gray, Indiana. 1880

Anatomy of Gray is a play by Jim Leonard Jr. set in the 1880s. The play frequently breaks the fourth wall when the characters directly narrate the events in the story to the audience.

Play (theatre) form of literature intended for theatrical performance

A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of dialogue or singing between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. Plays are performed at a variety of levels, from Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional theater, to Community theatre, as well as university or school productions. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference as to whether their plays were performed or read. The term "play" can refer to both the written texts of playwrights and to their complete theatrical performance.

Fourth wall

The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imagined wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this "wall", the convention assumes, the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th century onwards, the rise of illusionism in staging practices, which culminated in the realism and naturalism of the theatre of the 19th century, led to the development of the fourth wall concept.

Plot synopsis

The play starts with a prologue, in which June Muldoon explains that the town of Gray, Indiana is a very boring place. She says that the play will chronicle her story, and the first chapter is started. [1]

Indiana State of the United States of America

Indiana is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern and Great Lakes regions of North America. Indiana is the 38th largest by area and the 17th most populous of the 50 United States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th U.S. state on December 11, 1816. Indiana borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north, Ohio to the east, Kentucky to the south and southeast, and Illinois to the west.

The play then shifts to the funeral service of Adam Muldoon, June's late father and dedicated town farmer. After feeling immense grief at her father's loss, and seeing her mother's endless sorrow, June writes a letter to God in which she wishes for her town to receive a doctor, so that "nobody will ever die again."

Funeral ceremony for a person who has died

A funeral is a ceremony connected with the burial, cremation, or interment of a corpse, or the burial with the attendant observances. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember and respect the dead, from interment, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honor. Customs vary between cultures and religious groups. Common secular motivations for funerals include mourning the deceased, celebrating their life, and offering support and sympathy to the bereaved; additionally, funerals may have religious aspects that are intended to help the soul of the deceased reach the afterlife, resurrection or reincarnation.

God Divine entity, supreme being and principal object of faith

In monotheistic thought, God is conceived of as the supreme being, creator deity, and principal object of faith. The conceptions of God, as described by theologians, commonly include the attributes of omniscience (all-knowing), omnipotence (all-powerful), omnipresence (all-present), and as having an eternal and necessary existence. Depending on one's kind of theism, these attributes are used either in way of analogy, or in a literal sense as distinct properties. God is most often held to be incorporeal (immaterial). Incorporeality and corporeality of God are related to conceptions of transcendence and immanence of God, with positions of synthesis such as the "immanent transcendence". Psychoanalyst Carl Jung equated religious ideas of God with transcendental aspects of consciousness in his interpretation.

Later, a massive storm, followed by a tornado, causes a man in a balloon to crash near the town. Rescued by June and the townspeople, he is revealed to be a doctor named Galen P. Gray, a fact which June is immensely excited by.

Hot air balloon lighter than air aircraft consisting of a bag, called an envelope, which contains heated air

A hot air balloon is a lighter-than-air aircraft consisting of a bag, called an envelope, which contains heated air. Suspended beneath is a gondola or wicker basket, which carries passengers and a source of heat, in most cases an open flame caused by burning liquid propane. The heated air inside the envelope makes it buoyant since it has a lower density than the colder air outside the envelope. As with all aircraft, hot air balloons cannot fly beyond the atmosphere. Unlike gas balloons, the envelope does not have to be sealed at the bottom, since the air near the bottom of the envelope is at the same pressure as the surrounding air. In modern sport balloons the envelope is generally made from nylon fabric and the inlet of the balloon is made from a fire resistant material such as Nomex. Modern balloons have been made in all kinds of shapes, such as rocket ships and the shapes of various commercial products, though the traditional shape is used for most non-commercial, and many commercial, applications.

The townspeople, now with a relatively qualified doctor, start seeing him for all of their ailments. Despite Gray's ironic aversion to blood, he is quite helpful to the townspeople. Many of the largely uneducated citizens of Gray both look up to and misunderstand the doctor, creating many humorous situations. The doctor issues several diagnoses of their ailments and the townspeople are astounded by the doctor's intellect. June develops a crush on Gray and takes it upon herself to be his personal assistant. In the meantime, Gray falls in love with Rebekah Muldoon, June's mother, who is revealed to be pregnant with her late husband's daughter. Rebekah begs Gray for an abortion, but he refuses, liking her and her child too much to be able to bring himself to do it.

Abortion is the ending of pregnancy due to removing an embryo or fetus before it can survive outside the uterus. An abortion that occurs spontaneously is also known as a miscarriage. When deliberate steps are taken to end a pregnancy, it is called an induced abortion, or less frequently an "induced miscarriage". The word abortion is often used to mean only induced abortions. A similar procedure after the fetus could potentially survive outside the womb is known as a "late termination of pregnancy" or less accurately as a "late term abortion".

Gray begins to notice strange marks on certain townspeople, and soon those who are "marked" start becoming ill and even dying. Blaming the doctor for the appearance of the plague, Pastor Wingfield and a mob of other citizens attempt to chase Gray out of the town, but are stopped by June and the fact that the Pastor is suffering severely from kidney stones. Under the doctor's instruction, June manages to operate on the Pastor and save his life, causing the townspeople to soften up to the doctor.

Meanwhile, Rebekah gives birth to her baby, who is not marked like Rebekah. The sickness is getting worse, and more and more people are becoming afflicted every day. In a move to save those who they can, the townspeople and the doctor send June and her little sister, as well as Homer, a farm boy who has had a crush on June, in a raft across the river to the outside world. As the few who are not "marked" float away on the raft, the doctor comes to the conclusion that the illness is likely caused by contaminated water, remarking that he always boils his water, June mimics him in all aspects including his water-boiling habits, and Homer doesn't drink water (preferring soda pop, a running gag in the play). The play ends at its beginning with June explaining that she wrote down her history to tell to her little sister once she was old enough to understand it, and the opening lines are recited as the play is finished.

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References

  1. ↑ , Anatomy of Gray Sample Text.
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