''Icebound'' is a 1923 play written by American

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

Owen Davis Owen Gould Davis (January 29, 1874 – October 14, 1956) was an American dramatist known for writing more than 200 plays and having most produced. In 1919, he became the first elected president of the Dramatists Guild of America. He received th ...

, for which he received the

Pulitzer Prize for Drama The Pulitzer Prize for Drama is one of the seven American Pulitzer Prizes that are annually awarded for Letters, Drama, and Music. It is one of the original Pulitzers, for the program was inaugurated in 1917 with seven prizes, four of which were ...

. It is set in

Veazie, Maine Veazie is a town in Penobscot County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,814 at the 2020 census. The town is named after General Samuel Veazie, an early lumber baron and railroad operator. Veazie was originally part of Bangor, using Pe ...

, a suburb of Bangor.

Productions

''Icebound'' opened on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

at the

Sam H. Harris Theatre The Sam H. Harris Theatre, originally the Candler Theatre, was a theater within the Candler Building, at 226 West 42nd Street, in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1914, the 1,200-seat theater was designed ...

on February 10, 1923 and closed on June 1, 1923 after 145 performances. Directed by Sam Forrest and produced by

Sam H. Harris Sam Henry Harris (February 3, 1872 – July 3, 1941) was a Broadway producer and theater owner. Career Sam Harris was born on Manhattan's Lower East Side to poor Jewish parents. After a stint as a cough drop salesman and boxing manager, Harris' ...

, the cast featured

Edna May Oliver Edna May Oliver (born Edna May Nutter, November 9, 1883 – November 9, 1942) was an American stage and film actress. During the 1930s, she was one of the better-known character actresses in American films, often playing tart-tongued spinsters. ...

(Hannah), Lawrence Eddinger (Doctor Curtis), Robert Ames (Ben Jordan), John Westley (Henry Jordan), Lottie Linthicum (Emma Jordan), Frances Neilson (Ella Jordan), Boots Wooster (Nettie Jordan),

Phyllis Povah Phyllis Povah (July 21, 1893 – August 7, 1975) was an American stage and film actress. Career Povah made her Broadway theatre debut in ''Mr. Pim Passes By'' in 1921 and acted in minor roles in several productions over the next two decades a ...

(Jane Crosby) and Charles Henderson (Jim Jay). The play was produced Off-Off-Broadway at the Metropolitan Playhouse of New York in September 2014. ''Icebound'' won the 1923 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The play was included in the ''Best Plays Of 1922-23'', by Burns Mantle.

Plot

The Jordan family is in their farm in Veazie, Maine in October 1922. They await the reading of the will by Judge John Bradford of the family matriarch who has just died. Much to the family's dismay, the farm and all of the money has been left to a distant cousin Jane Crosby. Jane has been told that she is to take care of the legal trouble of the young son of the family, Ben. Ben had left because he accidentally burned a neighbor's farm. Ben begins a flirtatious relationship with Nettie, the adopted daughter of Emma Jordan.

Critical Reception

The February 12, 1923 review of the play by the New York Times said "A fine performance and an unusually good play came together at the Sam H. Harris Theatre..." On the play itself, the reviewer says "It is a grim and nearly relentless play of the New England and the New Englanders that Owen Davis knows. It has an absorbing first act, followed by two acts that are only slightly less gripping". The reviewer praised the performances of Ames and Povah, thought John Westley had his best performance of his career, and loved Oliver's performance as the maid.

Film

The play was made into a film, '' Icebound'', directed by

William C. deMille William Churchill deMille (July 25, 1878 – March 5, 1955), also spelled de Mille or De Mille, was an American screenwriter and film director from the silent film era through the early 1930s. He was also a noted playwright prior to moving into ...

, and released in 1924.''Icebound''
imdb.com, accessed December 19, 2015

References

External links

* * {{Pulitzer Prize for Drama 1918-1925 1923 plays American plays adapted into films Broadway plays Plays set in Maine Pulitzer Prize for Drama-winning works