J.B. (play)

J.B.
Written byArchibald MacLeish
CharactersMr. Zuss
Nickles
J.B.
Sarah
David
Jonathan
Mary
Ruth
Rebecca
First Messenger
Second Messenger
Girl
Jolly
Bildad
Zophar
Eliphaz
Mrs. Adams
Mrs. Murphy
Mrs. Lesure
Mrs. Botticelli
A Distant Voice
Sally Gibson
Date premieredDecember 11, 1958
Place premieredANTA Playhouse
New York City
Original languageEnglish
SubjectA retelling of the Book of Job
GenreDrama
SettingA stage inside an enormous circus tent

J.B. is a 1958 play written in free verse by American playwright and poet Archibald MacLeish, and is a modern-day retelling of the story of the biblical figure Job. The play is about J.B. (a stand-in for Job), a devout millionaire with a happy domestic life whose life is ruined. The play went through several incarnations before it was finally published. MacLeish began the work in 1953 as a one-act production, but within three years, had expanded it to a full, three-act manuscript.

The play has won several accolades, including the 1959 Tony Award for Best Play and the 1959 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Two versions of J.B. are available, the original book, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, and the script that MacLeish revised substantially for Broadway, published by Samuel French Inc.


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