''Why We Have a Body'' is the first play by

Claire Chafee Claire Chafee is an American playwright. Her 1993 play '' Why We Have a Body'' won an Oppenheimer Award The Oppenheimer Award (also known as the Newsday George Oppenheimer Award or the Oppy) was named after the late playwright and Newsday drama ...

. It premiered in 1993 at the

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, California, and was labeled a "lesbian play". It was then produced for

Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

theatre and was staged in Canada and Australia. In 2011 it was revived at the Magic Theatre. Chafee received the George Oppenheimer Award for Best Emerging Playwright from ''

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''.

Plot summary

There are only four characters in the play. Lili, a private detective, is attracted to Renee, a straight

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who is having trouble with her marriage. Lili's sister, Mary, has

schizophrenia Schizophrenia () is a mental disorder characterized variously by hallucinations (typically, Auditory hallucination#Schizophrenia, hearing voices), delusions, thought disorder, disorganized thinking and behavior, and Reduced affect display, f ...

and as a result, she robs

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stores. Mary lives with Lili briefly, until their mother, Eleanor, returns from Central America, and Lili starts an affair with Renee. While this is happening, Mary is arrested for robbery. There is a focus on how their mother's constant traveling has affected the lives of the two sisters.

Background

''Why We Have a Body'' was the first play written by Chafee. When it premiered in 1993 at the

in San Francisco, it was labeled as a lesbian play. An inspiration for the play was ''

Harriet the Spy ''Harriet the Spy'' is a children's novel written and illustrated by Louise Fitzhugh that was published in 1964. It has been called "a milestone in children's literature" and a "classic". In the U.S., it ranked number 12 in the 50 Best Books f ...

'', a children's novel published in 1964, whose main character Chafee thought of as "the first lesbian I met". Almost all auditions for the original play were recorded on video. After its first six months, the play was produced for

theatre by the Women's Project Theater and was also staged in Canada and Australia. Chafee has said that she believes people responded strongly to her play because of the tension as the plot goes back and forth between comedy and deep questions. The play was later shown in 1994 by the

Judith Anderson Dame Frances Margaret Anderson (10 February 18973 January 1992), known professionally as Judith Anderson, was an Australian actress who had a successful career in stage, film, and television. A pre-eminent stage actress in her era, she won two ...

Theatre, 1995 by

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, and in 1997 by The Theatre Conspiracy. It was revived at the Magic Theatre in 2011 through 2012.

Reception

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of ''

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'' wrote of the 1994 production, "If ''Why We Have a Body'' doesn't offer much in the way of a plot and ends abruptly, that's because it is far more interested in metaphorical speculation about identity – genetic, sexual and mythical – than in telling a story." In a review of the 1997 production,

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of ''

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'' wrote, "This is the sort of play that can become opaque, coy and annoying very quickly, but playwright Claire Chafee has a gift for language and a sense of humor, and Heather May's direction is cool and clear as spring water." Christopher Meeks wrote in a review of the 1995 production for ''

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'', "''Why We Have a Body'' is a rich, dense and sometimes confusing and fragmented piece of material that will reward those with patience."

Awards

Chafee received the George Oppenheimer Award for Best Emerging Playwright from ''

'' for her debut. The play also garnered the San Francisco

Drama-Logue Award The Drama-Logue Award was an American theater award established in 1977, given by the publishers of Drama-Logue newspaper, a weekly west-coast theater trade publication. Winners were selected by the publication's theater critics, and would recei ...

, the Bay Area Critics' Choice Award, and the Princess Grace Special Projects Grant.

References

{{reflist, 30em 1993 plays Off-Broadway plays Fictional lesbians