Madeleine George’s plays include The Sore Loser, Hurricane Diane (Obie Award), The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence (Pulitzer Prize finalist), Seven Homeless Mammoths Wander New England, Precious Little, and The Zero Hour. Honors include the Hermitage Major Theatre Award, the Princess Grace Award, and a Lilly Award. Madeleine’s translation of Chekhov’s Three Sisters premiered at Two River Theater in 2022, and her audio adaptation of Alison Bechdel’s Dykes to Watch Out For will be released in 2023 by Audible Originals. Madeleine is a writer/producer on the Emmy- and Golden Globe-nominated mystery-comedy Only Murders in the Building. Since 2006, she has worked with the Bard Prison Initiative at Bard College, where she currently serves as Director of Admissions.
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The (curious case of the) Watson IntelligenceA Play
MERRICK
(resumptive)
So that's why I'm running. To dismantle the institutions that have enslaved us and humiliated us and conned us out of our money for far too long.
WATSON
You're running for election to the government so you can dismantle the government?
MERRICK
(no hesitation, total confidence)
Yes.
WATSON smiles pleasantly.
WATSON
Cool. Good luck.
The (curious case of the) Watson IntelligencePremiered in2013- Print Books
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The (curious case of the) Watson IntelligenceA Play
MERRICK
Several months ago I experienced a vision, a momentary blotting out of the mental faculties by passion that resulted, as in a solar eclipse, in a fiery corona of insight. I saw, all at once, that just as machines have brought relief to the coal miner, farmer, and factory worker, they might bring relief to those of us for whom certain psychic exchanges are themselves a kind of labor. There is no end to the work demanded of us in the effort to know another--it is an endless engine chugging away, day and night, in the backmost corner of our minds. And like all inefficient work, it sheds heat in all directions, burning off in wasteful plumes the precious mental energy that those of us who earn our living by our wits require to power our daily activities. My mind is my livelihood, Dr. Mycroft, and I cannot afford to have it ill occupied with the vicissitudes of a baffling but constant interaction.
WATSON
You are referring to--
MERRICK
I am referring, sir, to my wife.
The (curious case of the) Watson IntelligencePremiered in2013- Print Books
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The (curious case of the) Watson IntelligenceA Play
ELIZA
I can't figure you out! The longer I know you the less I understand you! I never have a clue what you're going to do next!
WATSON
Oh yes I'm a wild man! I'm liable to do anything! I could leave Route 16 one exit early and drive through a Blimpie's! I could make us rent Maid in Manhattan at Hollywood Video!
ELIZA
No, but I mean--
WATSON
(continuous)
Don't you know me by now? I'm the most predictable dude you will ever meet and you're cutting me loose for being too wild?
ELIZA
Look. I can't make you understand this. I don't know why I'm even trying. It's way, way outside the scope of your comprehension.
WATSON
(cold)
Why don't you fucking try me.
The (curious case of the) Watson IntelligencePremiered in2013- Print Books
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“Marvelous and filled with wonders . . . George’s cleverness keeps taking surprising turns; just when you think you’re heading into the cul-de-sac where speculative fiction typically gets trapped, she blasts her way out.” ―Jesse Green, New York Magazine [on The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence]
“Four Stars. A sweet and twisty time-tripping fantasy that keeps the seriocomic juices flowing. Refreshingly whimsical, Madeleine George’s play juggles several deep themes with grace, wit and intellectual verve.” ―David Cote, Time Out NY [on The (curious case of the) Watson Intelligence]
“A lucid drama. Appealingly brainy and messy, George's play never settles for an easy metaphor or emotion. It cross-examines our pat notions of history and love.” ―The New Yorker [on The Zero Hour]
Selected Works
- Print Books
- Powell's
- Barnes & Noble
- Alibris
- Abe Books
- Samuel French
- Print Books
- Powell's
- Barnes & Noble
- Alibris
- Abe Books
- Samuel French
- Print Books
- Samuel French
Madeleine George is a playwright at home in the messiness of us. She writes rigorously about love and its great sacrifices, and we are pulled to her scenes and words because she will not compromise how complicated we truly are. Conceptually rich and perfectly paced, every particle of language—from a character’s speech to a stage direction—contributes to the vivid construction of a world. She is a lover of humans and spins with great compassion, keen observation and a grammarian’s control the ridiculous and tragic ways they think and act. Her plays are characterized by extravagant theatrical conceits—a talking ape; Nazis who materialize on the subway in twenty-first-century New York; a natural-language super-processing computer system that is embodied in human form – yet at their heart they reveal a concern for how we seek connection and the quest to be understood and known.