All the Way Home is a play written by the American playwright Tad Mosel, adapted from the 1957 James Agee novel A Death in the Family. Each author received the Pulitzer Prize for their separate works.
The play was revived Off-Broadway at the Equity Library Theatre in October 1979, directed by Jamie Brown.
The play was revived off-off-Broadway by the Transport Group in November 2006. Directed by Jack Cummings III, the cast featured Patrick Boll (Jay Follett), Monica Russell (Mary) and Chandler Frantz (Rufus). The TheaterMania reviewer wrote, "The achingly moving play is Tad Mosel's 1960 Pulitzer Prize-winning adaptation of James Agee's autobiographical 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel 'A Death in the Family', and in reviving the piece, director Jack Cummings III confirms that both prizes are deserved."[2]
Plot
The play takes place in summer 1915 in Knoxville, Tennessee, where the extended families of the Folletts and the Lynches live. Jay Follet and his pregnant wife Mary have a six-year-old son named Rufus, who takes great joy in being with his father. Jay's brother, Ralph, is an undertaker. Ralph appears to have a drinking problem and mistreats his wife Sally. Mary's parents are Joel Lynch and Catherine Lynch, and her brother is Andrew. The play unfolds over a period of four days.
During the first act, the Folletts leave Jay and Mary's home to visit their 104-year-old great-great-grandmother and Aunt Sadie Follet. Returning later that evening, Jay receives a frantic call from his brother Ralph that their father Jim-Wilson is in declining health. After Mary warns Jay about driving too fast, Jay leaves to find out what happened.
In the second act, it is revealed that Jay is killed in an automobile accident. The remainder of the play deals with the family coming to terms with his death. It becomes uncertain if Jay had been driving drunk or if it had been a suicide.
The third act takes place on the day of Jay's funeral. Mary tells Rufus, for the first time, that she is pregnant and that he may have a little brother or sister on the way.
^"'All the Way Home' 1960", Playbill Vault. Retrieved November 29, 2015. - Mosel, Tad, "Introduction and Act 1" All the Way Home: A Drama in Three Acts, Samuel French, Inc., 1961, ISBN0573605254, pp. 3, 5
^Finkle, David (November 5, 2006). "'All the Way Home' 2006". TheaterMania. Retrieved December 5, 2022. - Sommer, Elyse (2006). "'All the Way Home'". CurtainUp. Retrieved December 5, 2022.
^["'All the Way Home' Film"], TCM. Retrieved November 29, 2015.
"From Sidewalk to Stage". Santa Cruz Sentinel. Vol. 104, no. 218. AP Wirephoto. September 15, 1960. Retrieved December 5, 2022 – via California Digital Newspaper Collection.
