Senior Humanities Class Enjoys Arthur Miller's "Death of a Salesman" in New York City
Posted March 23, 2012
Ten Seniors traveled to New York City this week to see the new production of Arthur Miller’s Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning play Death of a Salesman at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. The students are members of Elizabeth Roach and Emily Pressman’s senior humanities class, “History, Literature and the Contested Past.”
The class read Miller’s seminal play aloud together before spring break and plan a closer examination of the text now that they have had an opportunity to see it performed on stage. “The play provides a perfect example of the relationship between history, literature and memory,” noted Ms. Pressman. “It wrestles with both personal memory and the national memories of the American dream and the ways in which the promise of that dream is betrayed for the protagonist Willy Loman and his family.”
Will Maas ‘12 felt fortunate to see the play come to life on stage. “We were all amazed by the unbelievable acting and how this acting could add to our knowledge and understanding of the play,” said Will afterwards. “Phillip Seymour Hoffman as Willy Loman was tremendous, as was Andrew Garfield as Biff Loman, a young actor most famous for his role in the Social Network. It was a wonderful day that we won’t soon forget. ”
In addition to Hoffman and Garfield the play features Obie Award winner Linda Emond as Linda Loman and is directed by eight-time Tony Award winner Mike Nichols. You can learn more about the production here.