Effect of Gamma Rays on Man‐In‐The‐Moon Marigolds, The

Effect of Gamma Rays on Man‐In‐The‐Moon Marigolds, The (1970), a play by Paul Zindel. [Mercer‐O'Casey Theatre, 819 perf.; Pulitzer Prize, NYDCC Award.] Beatrice ( Sada Thompson) is a slatternly, widowed housewife who takes her hatred of the world out on her two children, Ruth ( Amy Levitt) and Matilda or Tillie ( Pamela Payton‐Wright). She badgers them and often keeps them out of school to help with housework, which never gets properly done anyway. The extroverted Ruth is an epileptic and has little love or respect for her mother. The younger Tillie escapes her nightmarish daily life by making scientific experiments in school, studying the effects of cobalt‐60 on marigolds. Only her laboratory work sustains her, and when she wins a science competition she begins to see a brighter future. The play was originally written for television, and was later staged at Houston's Alley Theatre and the Cleveland Play House before being presented Off Broadway. Jerry Talmer of the New York Post wrote, “I don't know of a better play of its genre since The Glass Menagerie. It is stronger and funnier and tougher than I can report.” In 1971 the play became only the second Off‐Broadway production to receive the Pulitzer Prize. Because of its strong female cast of characters, the drama was frequently done in theatres across the country. Paul ZINDEL (1936–2003), a native of Staten Island, had been a high school science teacher and a novelist, many of his juvenile books read in schools. Zindel's other plays include And Miss Reardon Drinks a Little (1971), The Secret Affair of Mildred Wild (1972), and Ladies at the Alamo (1977).