Up the Down Staircase - Softcover

Kaufman, Bel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0871292815 ISBN 13: 9780871292810

Publisher: Dramatic Pub Co, 1969

Synopsis

Cast: 12m., 18w. (smaller with doubling.) "Hi, Teach!" are the first words to greet attractive Sylvia Barrett. There's a special happiness in walking into the still-empty classroom and for the first time writing her name on the blackboard. Students pour into the classroom—cautious, testing, challenging. Simultaneously, there's a blizzard of paperwork, warnings, contradictory orders, indecipherable instructions. Frantic, Sylvia begins to fear she doesn't even understand the language. An experienced teacher translates: "Keep on file in numerical order" means throw in wastebasket. "Let it be a challenge" means you're stuck with it. "Interpersonal relationships" means a fight between kids. And "It has come to my attention" means you're in trouble. Soon Sylvia finds herself the most involved person in the school—involved in the start of a romance and in a near war with a discipline-over-everything administrator, but, most of all, involved in the unexpected, sometimes heartbreaking problems of her students. The simple stage arrangement makes the play easy to produce and serves to convey a sense of the whole school. One critic said, "Seldom has a humorous work been at the same time so important."

About this title

Synopsis:

Chronicles the goings-on in a large metropolitan high school, detailing the experiences of an idealistic first-year teacher who is plagued by difficulties arising from an overwhelming bureaucracy, inadequate facilities, and some unforgettable students.

About this edition

• Publisher: Dramatic Pub Co
• Publication date: 1969
• ISBN 10: 0871292815
• ISBN 13: 9780871292810
• Binding: Paperback