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| George Herman is the recipient of 36 awards for his writing. His children's play Nine Dragons is now an illustrated book from Tuttle (Boston). He is the author of A Company of Wayward Saints, which won a McKnight Foundation Humanities Award in 1964, and is still in print and widely produced. In 1983 the Hawaii State House of Representatives honored him for his 16 years in the islands as "a skillful director, actor, playwright and a perceptive, candid drama critic." His first novel, written at 65, was a national finalist in the Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers program. Mr. Herman now lives in Portland, Oregon, among fir, pine, maple, wild cherry, and cedar trees with an imperial cat, an overly-protective dog, a feisty cockatiel, several robust squirrels, two raccoons, a wife, and the oldest of his 11 children. He is never lonely. |
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Fantasy/Drama
Short, 50-60 minutes
3 females, 5 males, 2 either
(8-12 actors possible: 3-5 females, 5-9 males)
$35.00 per performance; $7.99 per book
A lively, imaginative boy learns that he has a terminal disease, and his reactions to this discovery strain his relationships with his mother, his doctor, his classmates, and his best friend, with whom he shares a secret tree house. Encouraged by a wise man jogging along the shore, the boy questions why he was born to die so young, what he might expect after death, and how to accept his fate. In the process he also re-examines his attitude toward his father, who was killed in Vietnam, and comes to understand the hidden place beyond life.
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| "The Hidden Place, an original and imaginative play about terminal illness, is difficult to judge as children's theater, because it is unlike most such fare..." |
| --Vicki Viotti, Aiea Sun Press |
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Fantasy/Fable
Full-length, 60-70 minutes
7 females, 8 males (13-16 actors possible: 5-7 females, 6-8 males)
$75.00 per performance; $8.99 per book
Deep within a great mountain on a remote island live the last nine dragons in the world. When conflict erupts between the island's two human cultures, the oldest and wisest dragon reveals a solution that prevents the war from taking place. This spectacular allegory fuses Chinese and Polynesian myth and imagery.
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| "George Herman's Nine Dragons is a straightforward morality play that reads like an ancient Chinese folktale... The result is a sumptuous visual treat." |
| --Joseph T. Rosmiarek, Honolulu Star-Bulletin |
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