The Michaels: A Family at Home and Abroad: Two Plays - Paperback

by Richard Nelson (Author)

A double volume that features the final installments from Tony Award-winning playwright and director Richard Nelson's critically acclaimed Rhinebeck Panorama.

Begun over twelve years ago, each play in Nelson's intricate and moving play cycle captures a snapshot in the lives of three families from a small upstate New York village: the Apple family, the Gabriels, and now the Michaels--a family with deep roots in the world of modern dance.

The first play in this collection, The Michaels: Conversations During Difficult Times, takes place in the kitchen of Rose Michael, a celebrated choreographer. A meal is prepared, modern dances are rehearsed, and dinner is eaten--all amidst conversations about art, death, family, politics, and the state of America.

What Happened?: The Michaels Abroad brings the cycle to a close as the Michaels find themselves in Angers, France, in September 2021. They are attending a student dance festival and crawling out from under a deadly pandemic, which turned life as they knew it upside down.

Author Biography

Richard Nelson's many plays include Illyria; The Gabriels: Election Year in the Life of One Family (Hungry, What Did You Expect?, and Women of a Certain Age); The Apple Family: Scenes from Life in the Country (That Hopey Changey Thing, Sweet and Sad, and Sorry, Regular Singing); Nikolai and the Others; Goodnight Children Everywhere (Olivier Award for Best Play); Franny's Way; Some Americans Abroad; Frank's Home; Two Shakespearean Actors; and James Joyce's The Dead (with Shaun Davey; Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical). He has also written for film, namely the screenplays for Hyde Park-on-Hudson and Ethan Frome. He is the recipient of the PEN/Laura Pels Master Playwright Award and an Academy Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He is an Honorary Associate Artist of the Royal Shakespeare Company.