A Study Guideby Nathan Jones

By Arthur MillerDirected by Lynne Collins

MARCH 2 – MAY 3, 2018B L A C K B O X T H E A T R E

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Synopsis (or, How It All Goes Down)*Warning—Plot Spoiler

oe and Kate Keller live with their son, Chris, in an American suburb. Joe is the successful owner of a manufacturing plant, but the family still feels the

loss of their other son, Larry, a pilot, who went missing during World War II. Three years later, Kate stubbornly believes that Larry is still alive. Chris is at odds with his mother since he believes his brother is dead and would like to marry Larry’s former fiancée, Ann Deever. Ann’s father was Joe Keller’s partner during the war and was jailed for selling cracked cylinder heads that led to the death of twenty-one pilots. Joe was exonerated for his involvement, returning home to grow his business even more. The play begins with Joe looking at a tree that has blown over in the night. The tree was a memorial for Larry, and Joe fears that it will have an effect on Kate. Chris tells his father that he asked Ann to visit because he plans to propose. Joe thinks his wife will disapprove because she thinks of Ann as Larry’s girl. Chris threatens to leave the family business to leverage his father’s support in convincing his mother that Larry is not coming back and that everyone deserves to move on. Kate senses the reason for Ann’s visit, and she sets about convincing everyone that Larry is not dead. They all begin to talk about Ann’s father, and Joe reassures everyone that he was not a bad man, just a weak one, going so far to say he would offer him a job at the factory when he is released from prison. Chris tells Ann his true feelings, and she agrees to marry him. He tells her about his experiences in the war and his belief that all the death and pain should change people. He feels ashamed to go on with his life when people seem to see the war as a “bus accident.” Ann’s brother, George, calls and says that he urgently needs to see the Kellers after visiting his father in prison. Joe worries that he might stir up trouble, and Kate warns him to “be smart.” When George arrives, he reveals to Ann that their father claims that Joe was the one who approved hiding the cracks and shipping out the defective cylinder heads, but at the trial, Joe lied about it, pinning the guilt

on their father. Chris argues with him, but Kate enters and quickly calms George down. Joe reminds him that his father was always a weak man, and George seems to reconsider, but Kate turns the tide with an accidental remark. Chris confronts his father, and Joe admits he shipped the defective parts, never thinking that they would be installed. Chris is devastated and drives off. It is 2 AM. Joe and Kate wonder what Chris will do. Ann enters and says she will keep the secret, but that Kate must accept Larry’s death so that she can marry Chris. Kate balks, but Ann shows her a letter from Larry that forces her to face hard truths. Chris returns and asks what they will do to make it right, telling his father, “you’re no worse than most men but I thought you were better. I never saw you as a man. I saw you as a father.” After hearing the letter read aloud, Joe finally admits that the twenty-one deaths are his responsibility.

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Costume design by Clare Henkel 2018.

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Character Relationships(or, Who’s Who and What They’re Up To)

Kate KellerGrieving mother, holding out hope

Joe KellerSuccessful businessman with a secret.

Larry KellerDeceased

Chris KellerLoyal and idealistic

Ann DeeverStrong, principled, and independent

George DeeverA war-scarred lawyer.

Lovers

Ex-fiancées

Siblings

Their Father, Steve Deever, worked with Joe Keller

Married

Brothers

Parents to

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Arthur Miller(or, Who Wrote This Thing)

rthur Miller was born in 1915 the son of Jewish immigrants from Poland. His father showed the family what the American Dream looked like,

building a successful clothing company in New York. That dream was dashed in 1929 when the stock market crashed, leaving his family quite poor. Miller graduated from high school, saving $13 of the $15 he made each week for college. He took night classes when he could and applied to the University of Michigan where he was rejected…twice. The third time being a charm, he enrolled and found his calling as a writer. During spring break, he wrote his first play No Villain, for which he was awarded scholarship money. After graduating, he began writing radio plays for the Federal Theater Project. That job ended due to anti-communism sweeping through the country, and he began working at shipyards at night so that he could write during the day. He failed as a screenwriter, but a stroke of luck seemed to come when The Man Who Had All the Luck was picked up for Broadway; however, it was not a success. His next play, the Tony Award winning All My Sons was written in 1947. His next play, Death of a Salesman, delved into the darkness of the American Dream, a theme he would return to again and again throughout his career. As the red scare and McCarthyism took hold in the 50’s, he wrote the play The Crucible. The play is about the Salem Witch Trials on the surface, but it is really a political message that points to the injustice of the anti-communist blacklists. His political views would soon land him in hot water with the House Committee on Un-American Activities or HUAC. One of his collaborators, the director Elia Kazan, was also called to testify and named a number of theater artists to the committee, which strained their friendship for over a decade. Miller refused to name names and was convicted of contempt by Congress in 1957. During this time, his second marriage to movie star Marilyn Monroe also began to unravel. Their divorce was finalized in 1961 after working on the film, The Misfits, together.

After marrying a third time in 1962, he wrote After the Fall, whose main character resembled Marilyn Monroe, creating resentment among people who thought he was exploiting her recent death. Though he never regained the renown that he enjoyed in the 40’s and 50’s he remained active in politics and writing. He became a lobbyist for the rights of censored or imprisoned authors around the world. He wrote the play The Archbishop’s Ceiling in 1977 about silenced writers in the Soviet Union, leading to a resurgence of his work being produced in the U.K. He would go on to write about the Reagan Years (The Ride Down Mt. Morgan), Kristallnacht during the buildup to the Holocaust (Broken Glass), and one more play about his experience with Marilyn Monroe (Finishing the Picture). It would premiere on Broadway only months before his death at the age of 89. His more than two-dozen plays continue to be produced due to their principled challenges to the status quo of what it means to be successful in America.

Activities• Read or watch one of Arthur Miller’s well-known

works such as Death of a Salesman, The Crucible, or A View from the Bridge. How do the themes of that play compare and contrast to the themes of All My Sons? Do these themes still remain relevant today? Why or why not?

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Arthur MillerNew York Public Library Digital Collection.

Context(or, Why Should I Care?)

rthur Miller wrote All My Sons almost immediately after World War II when citizens, soldiers, families, and industries were still reeling from

the ramifications of the conflict. The feeling across the country was that everyone had done his or her duty in winning the war, but the reality was that some families made the ultimate sacrifice while the nation’s industries had used the war to pull the economy out of the Great Depression and reap enormous profits. The United States emerged as one of two super powers at the end of the war. The industrial-military complex that President Eisenhower warned against has its roots in this power dynamic. As the Soviet Union gained power and promoted the spread of communism, Secretary of State George Marshall developed a plan to rebuild a shattered Europe. American businesses sprang into action, creating the economic boom of the 1950’s. All My Sons confronts the guilt, responsibility, and ethics that our country faced at war’s end. All of this success and money, while great for the country as a whole, did not necessarily address the personal ramifications that the war had on individuals and families. The Greatest Generation lost many young men. Those that came back quickly began careers, purchased homes, and started families. Despite this fact, a whole host of people had their lives shattered forever. Wives were widowed and needed to care for their orphaned children. Many women had to return to the home after the careers and independence they experienced during the war years were taken away, so their jobs could be given to returning soldiers who needed work. Given how little was known about PTSD at the time, a great number of men bore unspeakable pain throughout their lives with little help from medical and mental health experts. Miller explores the price of victory and the American Dream by focusing on a single family. At the center of this family, Joe Keller must face the consequences of his decisions as they ripple through the lives of his wife and son. Love is lost and regained, grief is denied and accepted, and hope is a comfort and a burden. Miller simply points out that even though the war was over and on the surface, everything

seemed to be going well, there were deep wounds and responsibilities that would have to be dealt with. The sins of the father cause the sons to suffer, just as the sins of a nation at war may cause the citizens to suffer.

Activities• How might the Kellers deal with the choices they’ve

made had Larry not died in the war? Detail what may have changed for each character. Would Joe Keller still have to face what he’d done?

• Write a newspaper article that explains the breaking Keller scandal from the end of the play. What quotes would you include? Who might be interviewed? Would the coverage be accusatory or forgiving based on the times?

• Put together a presentation about profiteering during World War II and the Cold War.

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Costume Design by Clare Henkel 2018

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Themes (or, What Are We Talking About?)GUILT AND BLAME – All of the main characters in the play are hiding something that makes them feel some level of guilt or shame. They protect themselves from information that could destroy their family, well-being, and way of life. Some characters protect themselves by shifting or placing blame on other people while others try to find some kind of justice.

Questions• While Joe Keller is guilty, are there other characters

that share guilt by association? Who in your opinion is most guilty of this?

• Why doesn’t the community confront Joe Keller about his actions?

• When do you think Kate found out about the crime? What do you think her reaction was?

• If Ann and George hadn’t arrived, do you think the Kellers would have ever faced the truth?

• How does Chris deflect blame from his father’s choices?

FAMILY AND MONEY – The protection of wealth and family leads the characters to make some pretty unethical choices. Joe uses his family as an excuse for his actions while Chris forgets his idealism by proclaiming he will make a fortune for Ann. The play literally pits capitalism against morality, the material against the ethical. Many people could look at their own families and see elements of the Kellers and Deevers in how they interact.

Questions• What do you think Chris will do with the family

business? Will he hold on to his idealism or become “practical”?

• Why do you think the focus shifted in the 50’s toward materialism? What were the positives and negatives of this cultural change?

• How does the idea of the “American Dream” conflict or align with the characters in the play?

• Does this theme still resonate with our society today? Why or why not?

• Can capitalism and morality co-exist? What do you think Arthur Miller thought?

• Chris says that men “killed themselves for each other…a little more selfish and they’d’ have been here today.” Are the characters in the play the selfish and self-preserving survivors?

JUSTICE AND JUDGMENT – The characters in the play are driven by a single decision. The crime that Joe perpetrates leads to a ruined partner, a dead child, and a depressed mother. The children of both men heap judgment on their parents for their profiteering and subsequently must judge their own complicity in the family secret. Call it karma, reaping what you sow, or chickens coming home to roost, but even though Joe is legally exonerated for his crimes he must face social justice and judgement.

Questions• Who has suffered the greatest wrong at the hands

of Joe?• Is there anyone who goes unpunished who deserves

to be?• Why do you think Ann kept her knowledge of the

letter a secret for so long? Might it have led to the truth sooner?

LIES AND DECEIT – Joe lies to his family and his neighbors, sending his partner to prison in the process. Kate keeps her husband’s secrets, and Chris lies to himself about it. Despite this, everyone knows deep down what really happened and stays complicit with their silence. This is what drove Larry over the edge after seeing the courage, bravery, and sacrifice of his comrades in war.

Questions• Is there an honest person in the play?• Are deceit and complicity one and the same? Are those

who play along just as guilty?• How would the dishonesty at the center of the play

be different if it were written today? Would the same themes still hold true?

Scenic design by Brian Mallgrave 2018

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Director’s Notes

Theatre critics and scholars love to debate what plays and playwrights are the “greatest.” On most every list of greats, Arthur Miller takes a top spot. Our own Denver Post lists his Death of a Salesman as number one of the ten most important American plays, and two of Miller’s plays make the New Yorker list of “50 Greatest Plays of the Last 100 Years.” However, All My Sons rarely makes these lists, and I think that’s a huge oversight. Death of a Salesman is a flashier play, and A View from the Bridge is sexier, but, for my money, All My Sons is his most American, most honest and most perfect play. Americans love a success story. A self-made man who overcomes the odds to create a successful business is the essence of the American Dream. And when Arthur Miller wrote All My Sons, in the glow of post-World War II victory, these sentiments were even more deeply felt than they are today. So, it took some real courage for the then unknown Miller to explore the dark side of this American Dream. He creates, in the play’s central character, Joe Keller, a quintessential American—a man from the middle of America who survived the Great Depression. He is a man from the lower class with little formal education who becomes the owner of a successful business. He made his way up the ladder through hard work and strong instincts for making money. And he does all of this for his family, for his sons. Another part of the American Dream is that our children will do better than we did, that we’ll pass our life’s work into their grateful hands. But in order to keep this dream alive, Keller makes an unforgiveable decision. While it appears that he’s avoided the consequences of this decision, in the single day of the play, his world falls apart and the American Dream becomes a nightmare his family will have to live with for the rest of their lives. In a play that has echoes of Greek tragedy, Miller shines a harsh light on many of America’s most cherished institution—capitalism, the military, the family, industry—and asks us to consider what we owe the world and the people beyond our own walls. Keller argues that his bad deeds are justified because he did them for his sons and that many other men have done much worse. But his son, Chris, who watched young men die in the war, can’t forgive him. “I know you’re no worse than most men but I thought you were better.” Businesses and their leaders that harm others for the sake of profits were hardly new when Miller wrote this play, and Bernard Madoff, the many financial

institutions who cooked their books in the 2008 economic crisis, the BP oil spill and countless other examples make it clear that profit at the expense of responsibility to all our sons and daughters is still alive in the shadows of today’s American Dream. January 29 is the 70th anniversary of the first performance of All My Sons, and I’m so proud to celebrate it with you. Its characters feel like people we know, its conclusion is devastating, and its questions remain as current today as on the snowy night in 1947 when it opened on Broadway.

— Lynne Collins

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Costume design by Clare Henkel 2018.

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Questions For the Director

What challenges or advantages do directing an Arthur Miller classic pose to you as a director? The greatest challenge is to do justice to this great American play. Miller’s writing is very specific and clear, so all we need to do is tell this story as honestly as we can. While the stakes are very high, these are very real people facing real decisions and consequences. My job, and the job of the actors is embrace these given circumstances fully and let the writing carry us.

In many ways, this play seems more relevant than ever, especially when considering how history has played out since it was written. Does that 20/20 hindsight color the production today? Every work of art lives in two times--the time it is created and the time we read or view it. While this play is set in a very specific time and place, there are no themes, events or reactions that couldn’t be found in today’s world. Businesses and their leaders that harm others for the sake of profits were hardly new when Miller wrote this play, and Bernard Madoff, the many financial institutions who cooked their books in the 2008 economic crisis, the BP oil spill and countless other examples make it clear that profit at the expense of responsibility to all our sons and daughters is still alive in the shadows of today’s American Dream.

In what ways do you want this production to be unique? What do you want to highlight for young audiences? The beauty of live theatre is that every production is unique. This particular team of actors, director and designers have created an All My Sons that will be different from any other. One way our production is unique is that it performs in repertory with two other plays, so the actors have developed relationships and trust that can deepen their work. This company of actors feels able to dig deep into Miller’s world and trust their fellow actors to help and support them.

For younger audiences, a lot of the issues in the play will feel very familiar. Many young people face a conflict between idealism and practicality. Most of us have a moment in our young lives when we face the flaws of our parents. Young people certainly understand what it means to question the older generation’s values and actions.

Activities• Conduct a mock trial that puts Joe on trial. How does

your class render its verdict?• Why do you think Ann and Chris end up falling for

each other after Larry dies? Write some letters between them that show how this relationship might have started.

• Write an essay explaining how All My Sons maintains its relevance today. Are there any modern plays, films, or books that share a similar theme?

Additional Activities• Do some research about how quickly life was changing

in the 1950’s for the generation that returned from the war? How does it compare to the current generation that is still in Afghanistan, Iraq and other areas of conflict? Why are circumstances so different for our soldiers now?

• What does Joe mean when he references the title “All My Sons”? How might he rectify and atone for his mistakes? Propose the best way that Joe could have made things right. Is your class satisfied by the response?

P-40 Warhawk. History101.com