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Tales of the Lost Formicans and Other Plays
“One of the best playwrights our country, and our language, has produced.” –Tony Kushner
“Quirky, disturbing, and inexplicably beautiful theatrical poetry.” –Cary M. Mazer, Philadelphia City Paper
“Congdon writes like a woman possessed.” –Nels Nelson, New York Daily News
An immensely inventive and challenging writer, Constance Congdon is one of America’s finest playwrights, endowed with great compassion, keen insight and an unfailing comic sensibility. Throughout the plays in her first collection, she demonstrates a range rare in writers in any age, from a somber meditation on life in the post-nuclear age ( No Mercy ) to madcap social satire ( Losing Father’s Body ), from an epic historical exploration of love and sexual identity ( Casanova ) to her most popular play to date ( Tales of the Lost Formicans ), acclaimed by William A. Henry III of Time magazine as “A travel guide to Middle America conducted by aliens from outer space… If not the best new play of recent years, surely the most imaginative.”
Constance Congdon’s plays have been produced throughout the United States and abroad. She has received playwriting fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Rockefeller and Guggenheim foundations, and is the winner of Oppenheimer/Newsday, W. Alton Jones and L/ Arnold Weissberger awards. Congdon, an alumna of New Dramatists, currently teaches playwriting at Amherst College.
“Quirky, disturbing, and inexplicably beautiful theatrical poetry.” –Cary M. Mazer, Philadelphia City Paper
“Congdon writes like a woman possessed.” –Nels Nelson, New York Daily News
An immensely inventive and challenging writer, Constance Congdon is one of America’s finest playwrights, endowed with great compassion, keen insight and an unfailing comic sensibility. Throughout the plays in her first collection, she demonstrates a range rare in writers in any age, from a somber meditation on life in the post-nuclear age ( No Mercy ) to madcap social satire ( Losing Father’s Body ), from an epic historical exploration of love and sexual identity ( Casanova ) to her most popular play to date ( Tales of the Lost Formicans ), acclaimed by William A. Henry III of Time magazine as “A travel guide to Middle America conducted by aliens from outer space… If not the best new play of recent years, surely the most imaginative.”
Constance Congdon’s plays have been produced throughout the United States and abroad. She has received playwriting fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Rockefeller and Guggenheim foundations, and is the winner of Oppenheimer/Newsday, W. Alton Jones and L/ Arnold Weissberger awards. Congdon, an alumna of New Dramatists, currently teaches playwriting at Amherst College.
- GenresPlays
314 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
November 22, 2011
"Tales of the Lost Formicans" is an out-of-body, out of time experience, part biographical and perhaps one of the most mind bogglingly imaginative play I have read to date. It is an extremely avant-garde piece of work that cannot be fully described or understood without being read.
The play examines dealing with aliens, Alzheimer’s, the disintegration of a family, middle-class apathy, and a number of other subjects. Rather than writing a basic family drama, Congdon presents an anthropology lesson; as a group of aliens observe and attempt to understand the lives of a group of humans. The "alien" presence in the play however functions as a metaphorical representation of the troubles that seem too great and incomprehensible to be of mere human origin.
Its satirical nature and structure pokes fun at pop culture. The television set being interpreted as an alter, is symbolic to the generation's obsession with the appliance. Masturbation being interpreted by the aliens as a religious ceremony could be a direct blow to society's obsession with sex.
In conclusion, Tales of the Lost Formicans is a well-constructed metaphorical look at the human condition. The characters are depicted as out-of-control, lost, scared, and looking for answers. This made for a play that one can easily relate to and yet the alien presence provides a good distancing device which makes this altogether a delightful piece of literature.
The play examines dealing with aliens, Alzheimer’s, the disintegration of a family, middle-class apathy, and a number of other subjects. Rather than writing a basic family drama, Congdon presents an anthropology lesson; as a group of aliens observe and attempt to understand the lives of a group of humans. The "alien" presence in the play however functions as a metaphorical representation of the troubles that seem too great and incomprehensible to be of mere human origin.
Its satirical nature and structure pokes fun at pop culture. The television set being interpreted as an alter, is symbolic to the generation's obsession with the appliance. Masturbation being interpreted by the aliens as a religious ceremony could be a direct blow to society's obsession with sex.
In conclusion, Tales of the Lost Formicans is a well-constructed metaphorical look at the human condition. The characters are depicted as out-of-control, lost, scared, and looking for answers. This made for a play that one can easily relate to and yet the alien presence provides a good distancing device which makes this altogether a delightful piece of literature.
July 18, 2007
The title play in this book, "Tales of the Lost Formicans," is a brilliant satirical narrative of suburban ennui as seen through the eyes of aliens sent to Earth to observe just that. They linger and analyze as rebellious children act out, love affairs are born and die, and adults face parenting challenges and mid-life crises. Four stars because I didn't actually read the other plays in the collection, but 5 stars for "Formicans" -- even Tony Kushner credits Constance Cogdon for informing a lot of his narrative, stylistic and discursive choices. In conclusion, she's a tiny genius and the sekrit power behind "Angels in America" et al.
October 4, 2015
St. Cloud State theater performed this play when I was in college. It blew my mind, I loved it. I love reading plays, and this was a good early Sunday morning or really late Saturday night read. Aliens with sunglasses, deep ramblings of a lunatic who arguably might be the smartest guy in the room, and the heartbreaking emptiness of losing a loved one to a neurodegenerative disease.
March 31, 2007
A postmodern play about aliens taking over the last of suburbia.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews