About the Play
Drama. 50-55 minutes. 13-18 females, 5-12 males (18-30 performers possible). Suitable for middle school and older.
Premiered at William Alexander Middle School (Brooklyn, NY) and subsequently toured to the Gordonstoun School in Elgin, Scotland. Also performed at Siena College (Loudonville, NY).
Available in an approximately 40-minute competition version here.
Synopsis
It starts with a cough. October 1918. Weary young soldiers return to their hometowns after the end of the fighting in Europe, bringing with them the scars of war...and a mysterious illness that spreads like wildfire. As it reaches pandemic proportions, sheltered young Alice McMahon must put aside her dreams of the stage to tend to the sick and dying, rich and poor alike, one of many lives that will be forever changed by the Spanish Flu that killed more people than the Great War it followed.