Dickinson
Dickinson
The story of Emily Dickinson, told primarily as a one night
conversation (perhaps even confrontation) between the
playwright and the poet.  This play also deals with issues
of sexual identity, mental illness, and incest.
Characters:
Emily Dickinson, the poet
Austin Dickinson, her brother
Edward Dickinson, her father
Emily Norcross (Emma) Dickinson, her mother
Judge Lord, her lover
Lavinia (Vinnie) Dickinson, her sister
Sue (Susie) Dickinson, her sister-in-law and Austin’s wife
The Playwright, the playwright of this play
Thomas Wentworth Higginson, a middle-aged preacher

The play is written so that it may optionally be performed
by four actors as follows:

Emily Dickinson
The Playwright
All other male parts
All other female parts
Setting:
The play takes place during
one night in Emily Dickinson’
s bedroom in her father’s
Amherst, Massachusetts
mansion.  For Emily the time
is the late 1800’s, while for
The Playwright the setting is
the same but the time is the
early 21st century.
About the Poet:
Emily lived as a recluse, writing her
poetry in obscurity on scraps of paper
that she tied together into bundles.  The
poems were discovered published after
her death.  While thousands of her
letters are available, letters from a
critical part of her life and key portions
of other letters were destroyed to
protect the reputation of her and her
family.  Her life, like her poetry, remain
an enigma.
For questions about this play, email:  Send email
Awards:
Dickinson is a finalist for the
Moondance International Film Festival
for Best Stageplay.  The winner will be
announced in late August, 2008.