Babel by Jacqueline Goldfinger

A new comedy & winner of the 2017 Smith Prize for Political Theater. A talking stork, lesbian moms, and the power to build your own baby... In this version of a near future society, prospective parents learn within the first weeks of conception which traits their child will have and what behaviors it is likely to exhibit. Based on these test results, they are either issued a PRE certification which legally...
A new comedy & winner of the 2017 Smith Prize for Political Theater. A talking stork, lesbian moms, and the power to build your own baby... In this version of a near future society, prospective parents learn within the first weeks of conception which traits their child will have and what behaviors it is likely to exhibit. Based on these test results, they are either issued a PRE certification which legally guarantees the baby will be a "good" person or not. Without the certification, the child will be limited in what it is allowed to do. Two couples, both early in their pregnancies, collide over whether or not to open the “PRE” certification test results, and what to do once they know the results. With rapid advances in reproductive technology, modern eugenics is science’s Wild West. What will we do to “civilize” it and ourselves? How far will we go when playing God?
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Babel

Recommended by

  • Tammy Ryan:
    2 Sep. 2018
    “ Jacqueline Goldfinger's new play Babel is an imaginative, futuristic, philosophical and yet laugh out loud exploration of it's provocative premise. With Black Mirror overtones, it is both tense and playful, forcing us to question what we as a society are prepared to sacrifice for a Brave New World. I personally loved the Stork (and surprise) at the end. As always with Goldfinger's work, a wild theatricality is waiting to be unleashed. ”
  • Quinn Xavier Hernandez:
    31 Aug. 2018
    “ BABEL is wildly innovative and frighteningly powerful; it raises a metric ton of difficult questions that spiral into ever more difficult questions. Jacqueline Goldfinger is precise with her sharp, fascinating, and wickedly intelligent dialogue to a point that the story cuts even in places where we think it is softer. #PlaywrightPlug ”
  • Justin Taylor:
    26 Aug. 2018
    “ Do you like intelligent, fascinating dialogue, a stork with the voice of Harvey Weinstein, a torpedo pace that plumbs the depths of expecting parent anxieties, and delicious lines for actors? Read this play if you do. While the play world is sci-fi, the themes are nothing but. Also, where else are you going to read a play that can make you laugh out loud and then choke in terror about genetics? ”
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Development History

  • Residency
    ,
    Florida Studio Theatre
    ,
    2018
  • Commission
    ,
    National New Play Network
    ,
    2017

Awards

Winner
,
Smith Prize for Political Theatre
,
2017