Matthew Burnett

Theophilus North Matthew Burnett

Matthew Burnet

Based on the Thornton Wilder novel

Comedy/Drama

Characters: 4 male, 3 female to play over 20 characters

Simple sets

Helen Hayes Award nomination, Outstanding New Play

It is the spring of 1926. Thirty year old Theophilus North quits his teaching post in New Jersey and embarks on a quest for fun, adventure and his place in the world. His used car breaks down in Newport, Rhode Island, and he is stranded in this city of renowned wealth. Theophilus becomes involved in the lives and troubles of Newport's residents and is changed by the lessons he learns through them. Effective with minimal sets, properties and costumes, this touching, funny and insightful charmer is exceptionally easy to produce.

"Hope pulses so strongly through Theophilus North.... Burnett injects his script with cosmic scope.... Imaginative, forceful theater.... Charming and breathtaking all at once.... In the spirit of Wilder and with a dramatic vigor all its own, the play turns large-hearted living into art." --Variety

"Undaunted, [it] evokes...tender, unforced humanity.... Rich in dry humor, and in Wilder's...philosophy that the cosmic permeates the quotidian.... Gently funny, spryly wise..." --Time Out New York

"Charming... Captures Wilder's spirit of genial humor and tempered optimism.... Ignites sparks of surprisingly deep emotion." --New York Daily News

"Excavates the Wilder play buried in the novel.... This Theophilus North is unmistakably a cousin of Our Town.... There are muscles rippling under the play's rose-scented skin." --New York Sun

"Five stars.... Purely sparkles with intelligence, wit and humanity.... This is a play both for the head and the heart." --TalkinBroadway.com

"Beautiful and intelligent... A mixture of Wilderesque sobriety and esprit. The late author would undoubtedly have tipped his boater..." --TheaterMania.com