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May 16, 2024 · Get ready to dive into the captivating world of cinema with our latest roundup on Michael Cristofer Movies. In this article, we explore the remarkable filmography of the talented screenwriter...
Michael Cristofer (born January 22, 1945) [1] is an American actor, playwright, and filmmaker. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play for The Shadow Box in 1977. From 2015 to 2019, he played the role of Phillip Price in the television series Mr. Robot.
He appeared as the infamous Truxton Spangler in the AMC series Rubicon (2010) and was recently seen in the NBC series, Smash (2012), American Horror Story (2011), Showtime's Ray Donovan (2013). On the USA Network series, Mr. Robot (2015), he plays Evil Corp CEO, Philip Price. More at IMDbPro.
- January 1, 1
- Trenton, New Jersey, USA
Dive deep into Michael Cristofer's The Shadow Box with extended analysis, commentary, and discussion
- Author Biography
- Plot Summary
- Characters
- Themes
- Style
- Historical Context
- Critical Overview
- Criticism
- Sources
- Further Reading
Michael Cristofer was born Michael Procaccino on January 28, 1945, in Trenton, New Jersey. He left Catholic University after three years to begin his acting career. Cristofer performed with the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., ACT in Seattle, and the Theatre of the Living Arts in Philadelphia. In the late 1960s, he found a position with the Beirut ...
Act 1
The Shadow Boxopens with Joe’s interview. Joe is a terminally ill patient vacationing on the grounds of a large hospital, a guest in one of three cabins, two of which are otherwise occupied by other patients and their families. He admits that he hasn’t seen his family in six months due to excessive hospital bills and the belief that one day he will return home. Joe shares that he has explained “the whole setup” to his wife, Maggie, and has asked her to relay the information to their young tee...
Act 2
During a small party in Cottage Two, a disgusted Mark again threatens to walk out on Beverly’s outrageous, drunken behavior, only to have Beverly carelessly pour a bottle of champagne on him. Brian responds to the conflict, “My God, it’s only a jacket. Why are we wasting this time?” After a moving speech, Brian takes Beverly in his arms, “Come on, my beauty, I’ll show you a dancer.” But the activity is too much for him, and he collapses, then carefully exits to the bedroom. Agnes confesses to...
Agnes
Agnes is described as a “middle-aged woman, very neat, very tense, very tired.” According to the author, Agnes is someone who has “tried all her life to do the right thing, and the attempt has made her unsure of herself.” She is Felicity’s oldest daughter and her only surviving child. She shares with the interviewer that she suffers from psychosomatic headaches. They are so much a part of her that she has trouble recognizing them unless they have “gone away.” Living in the shadow of her decea...
Beverly
Beverly is a surprise guest at Cottage Two, and much to Mark’s dismay, she is his lover Brian’s colorful ex-wife. Beverly is a world traveler, an adventurer, and a bit of a drunk. She enters the cottage in an expensive, though soiled and torn, evening dress decorated with “bits of jewelry” and hidden by a “yellow slicker raincoat and rubber boots.” Despite her physical attractiveness, she has a rather bawdy sense of humor and throughout the play can be observed swigging from a gin bottle stra...
Brian
Brian is the second terminally ill patient, introduced in the work as “a graceful man... simple, direct, straightforward,” who “possesses an agile mind and a childlike joy about life.” Of all of the characters, Brian seems to have taken considerably more time to ponder his life for the sake of productivity—his past relationships, his accomplishments, his hopes and dreams unfulfilled, as well as what it means to be dying. During a conversation with his ex-wife, when asked about his newfound in...
Death and Dying
The perspectives on death offered by three terminally ill patients define the plot of The Shadow Box. Voices of the patients and family members alike illuminate many aspects of death. Each character gives the audience a glimpse of death and dying that is different from the next. Those experiences—whether it be those of a concerned husband, fearful wife, or angry patient—come together to give the work a richness and depth unattainable in consideration of any one experience. Joe’s emotional eff...
Appearances and Reality
All of the characters, either those dying or those affected by a dying loved one, must face the reality of death, that death is part of the human condition. Depending on the characters themselves, this process of acceptance is expressed in a wide range of emotions. Brian expresses feelings of disbelief in an unguarded moment with the interviewer, confiding, “It’s a bit of a shock, that’s all. You always think... no matter what they tell you... you always think you have more time. And you don’...
Dehumanization and Dignity
Terminal illness has a very dehumanizing effect on Joe, Felicity, and Brian alike, stripping them of human dignity. During the course of what seems to be lengthy medical treatment, each one has fallen victim to some form of poking, prodding, or cutting, as if each were part of an experiment. As a function of this scientific approach, the treatments these patients receive are also rather cold and mechanical, and by their very nature deprive these patients of human qualities or attributes. Joe...
Structure
The play is comprised of three different plots working together to create a sense of overall unity. Transitions in plot are indicated smoothly, at specific points in the play, during which one dialogue is faded out as another is woven in. The perspectives of characters involved in three different plots come together at the end of the play to give a fuller, richer picture of what it means to be dying, and how this condition impacts both the lives of those close to the terminally ill and the pa...
Point of View
Events of the play are presented outside of any one character’s perspective, in the third person. At no time does a character address the audience or offer any special insight into his or her motivations or actions. Instead, the audience is able to draw conclusions about the characters themselves by observing them in dialogue with various other characters. The dynamic nature of such interactions gives breadth and depth to these individuals and helps the audience to better understand their mot...
Objectivity
The work achieves a sense of objectivity primarily because of its structure. It offers snapshots or glimpses into the lives of three different groups of individuals and their struggle to cope with terminal illness, without coming to a particular consensus as to what it means to “die,” or what right action that one who is affected by terminal illness should take. The characters often bounce around ideas of what terminal illness means for them, working off each other to reach their own conclusi...
The era of the 1970s was the backdrop for Cristofer’s The Shadow Box,an era marked by uncertainty. First, American political confidence was in crisis after Nixon’s resignation from office. At no other time in history had a president violated the sanctity of public office as Nixon had. The country also had to cope with the aftermath of the Vietnam c...
Jack Kroll’s reaction to The Shadow Boxin his article “Where is Thy Sting?” was “The American way of death is to domesticate it.” While Kroll realized Michael Cristofer’s abilities, he did not necessarily find Cristofer’s brilliance exhibited in this play. The reaction on Broadway during the first weeks of the play’s run was also less than favorabl...
Laura Kryhoski
Kryhoski is currently working as a freelance writer. In this essay, Kryhoski considers Cristofer’s commentary on the redemptive nature of death. As a result of the play The Shadow Box,Michael Cristofer earned recognition for his honest, objective study of death, observed in the lives of three unrelated characters and their loved ones. The play, however, is more than just a playwright’s attempt to come to terms with the mysterious. The very idea of death is a means of redemption for several ch...
WHAT DO I READ NEXT?
1. In Tuesdays with Morrie: An Old Man, A Young Man, and the Last Great Lesson(1997), Mitch Albom, a Detroit Free Presscolumnist, chronicles his visits with his dying former college professor and mentor Morrie, recalling stories of Morrie’s life journey. 2. I Remain in Darkness(1997), published in English in 1999, is Annie Ernaux’s touching, troubled account of her mother’s illness, decline, and eventual death in an extended care facility. The basis for the actual memoir was compiled from scr...
Carey Wallace
Wallace’s stories, poems, and essays appear in publications around the country. In this essay, Wallace considers the way in which Cristofer’s characters represent different stages in the grieving process, and the progress each character makes toward acceptance of death during the course of the play. Death, it has been said, is the one sure thing in every life. But individuals deal with the possibility, and the reality, of death in myriad ways. Some welcome it as an escape from a painful world...
Axelrod, Alan, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Twentieth Century History,Alpha Books, 1999, pp. 377-94. Coe, Richard L., “An Eloquent Expression of Regional Richness,” in Washington Post,April 24, 1977. _______, Review of The Shadow Box, in Washington Post,April 1, 1977. Cristofer, Michael, The Shadow Box,Drama Book Specialists, 1977. Fretts, Bruce, ...
Carleson, James W., “Images of the Gay Male in Contemporary Drama,” in Gayspeak: Gay Male and Lesbian Communication,Pilgrim, 1981. Cristofer, Michael, Black Angel,Dramatists Play Service, 1984. Duclow, Donald F., “Dying on Broadway: Contemporary Drama and Mortality,” in Soundings: An Interdisciplinary Journal,Summer 1981, pp. 197-216. Gross, Leonar...
This is a production of the play The Lady and the Clarinet (by Michael Cristofer) by American Festival Theatre, at Netherbow Arts Centre, Edinburgh (14 th August – 2 nd September 1989) and King’s Head Theatre, London (12 th September – 8 th October 1989).
Pulitzer Prize winner for his 1977 Broadway play, "The Shadow Box", which was made into a television film, The Shadow Box (1980) starring Joanne Woodward and Christopher Plummer.
