Play examines school practice that leaves teachers in limbo
The New York City Department of Education has a special place for teachers facing complaints: the “reassignment center,” where they are paid to sit and do nothing, sometimes for months, while awaiting adjudication of their cases.
Playwright Topher Payne compares it to purgatory.
Eclipse Theatre Company will present Payne’s dark comedy “Evelyn in Purgatory,” the story of a teacher joining other suspended educators as they wait for their hearings. The play will open on Thursday in Worthington.
“It’s a very relevant, real and funny comedy-drama about honesty and conscience,” director Greg Smith said. “The play has been referred to as ‘The Breakfast Club’ for adults.”
First staged in 2012 in his hometown of Atlanta, Payne’s two-act is loosely based on New York's reassignment center. Several other states use similar models for handling complaints about teachers, Smith said.
“These people are teachers in their first purgatory … a barren room in New York’s Department of Education,” Smith said.
“They may be there for months, but these accused teachers have to show up every day to determine if they’re allowed to go back to their classrooms.”
Payne also wrote “Perfect Arrangement,” another comedy-drama about anxious people facing accusations. The central Ohio premiere was staged last year by Evolution Theatre Company.
“Topher has a knack for creating very human characters with hidden flaws and failings that are easily identified with,” Smith said. “When I read his work, I hear the old sayings 'Never judge a book by its cover' and 'Never rush to judgment.'”
Amy Anderson plays the title role, a history teacher.
“Evelyn is broken but trying to prove herself,” Anderson said. “She grew up with a difficult past, like many students today, and is trying to overcome that the