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?
  • Recommend
  • Download
  • Save to Reading List

Babel

Recommended by

  • Andrea Stolowitz:
    15 Aug. 2018
    “ “Babel is a timely view into a future world where choice and reproductive technology have progressed to eugenics. The play made me laugh out loud and also made me cry. It tracks the human journey of partnerships, trying to conceive, and dealing with genetic discrepancies with heart, humor and caution. The warning of Babel rings out clear and true: "humans please do not forget about the essential messiness, the imperfection as it were, of being human". The script integrates the idea of future technologies based on current human ideals in a smart and theatrical way. A great ride!
    ”
  • Emily Acker:
    15 Aug. 2018
    “ In this quick-witted dark-comedy, Goldfinger has traced a world where mankind creates a stringent rubric for the haves and have-nots through genetic manipulation. Her storytelling is deft, her humor is acerbic and her world-creation is so rich your imagination runs wild as you consider all the twisted possibilities of this not-so-distant-future. ”
  • Tira Palmquist:
    13 Aug. 2018
    “ BABEL lives at the intersection of what we can and can't control about genes, our children, their future. Goldfinger has situated these thorny questions in a near-future world -- far enough away that this genetic tweaking seems possible, near enough that we still see ourselves in this perilous landscape. This is a funny, quick-witted, tense and nimble play that explores what we'd do in the name of safety, what it would feel like to play God, what happens when playing God ends up being just as difficult and messy as you'd guessed. We'd like to be sure: we can't. ”
View all 10 recommendations

Development History

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

Awards

Winner
,
Smith Prize for Political Theatre
,
2017