Jane Martin's Mr. Bundy

A detailed Summary of Jane Martin's Mr. Bundy

Twenty-two years ago Jane Martin's first play premiered at the Actors Theater of Louisville in Kentucky, and ever since the controversy has followed. There is so much mystery and so many rumors wrapped up in this one single person that it is hard to find out what exactly is truthful and what is hearsay. Jane Martin seems to have no identity, no real person to stake a claim to the many plays that have struck an odd cord with their audience. Sure the playwright has a name, but that does not mean there is an identity.

Jane Martin is a pseudonym for an unknown person. The reason for all the speculation is that she has never been personally interviewed about any of her works (Jack and Jill). In her twenty-one years of experience, there has never been a photo in a theater program, and very few, if any, details of her life have been released. Her only voice to the public, besides the written scripts that are performed, is through Jon Jory. Jory was the Artistic Director of the Actors Theater of Louisville for thirty-one years until undertaking a new position as a professor at the University of Washington's School of Drama, and he is also the playwright's spokesperson. For this reason, many people speculate that he is the real

I believe that the main point Mr. Bundy addresses is the issue of forgiveness, and when has enough time passed until a person is forgiven of a wrong deed? Mr. Bundy has already did his time and rehabilitation, and was released back into society for what seems to be in the script, a long time. He had suffered, moving from town to town because of what he has done, and he looks forward to the time when he can live with out punishment, without his dog being killed, and without him being run out of town. Martin pushes this issue over and over throughout the play by using the different conflicts that come about between the characters. Robert and Catherine are willing to give Mr. Bundy a chance for forgiveness, but still place limitations on his access with Cassie, Jimmy Ray and Tianna, who had a child killed by a convicted child molester, want Mr. Bundy out of town with no questions asked, and Mrs. MaGuigan who likes Mr. Bundy but is unsure of how she wants to proceed. These conflicts represent how the majority of society feels, unsure of what to think, feeling forgiveness may be an option, and feeling that there can never be forgiveness. Jane Martin plays up these ideologies in her play to get a response from the audience.

Martin does not fail her audiences with this play, posing many unanswered questions during the reading of the script. Do fears for a child's safety outweigh the rights of those who are perceived as sexual predators (Spence)? What would you do if you found out that a pedophile lived next door to you? Would you be quick to judge them? Would you try and rid your neighborhood of them? Would you feel that forgiveness is in order, and let the person be? (Lawson) In fact Martin raises more questions that she answers, creating a discussion with the audience member and their own beliefs. For the production itself, I feel that the issue of forgiveness should be addressed foremost. The entire play focuses on when is it time to forget, and let the person move on with their life. This neighborhood is split, and the end result leaves the audience with the main question, What would you do?

Another play to be first produced by Jory at the Actors Theater was Keely and Du. This play attacks the volatile subject of abortion. She raises the societal issue of what is right or wrong, and poses this serious question to the audience. The play is about Keely, a pregnant woman going to an abortion clinic in Cincinnati, who was raped by her alcoholic husband, and feels that she is not capable for caring for a child. The Retrievalists, members of a radical Christian movement called Operation Retrieval, kidnap her and want to force her into loving her unborn child. Du, a member of the

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Approximate Word count = 1831
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English