Published works
Marisha Chamberlain is a novelist, playwright, poet and librettist. Her published works include the following. Her work in progress includes a new novel and two operas.
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The Rose Variations
A novel by Marisha Chamberlain
Available from Soho Press, February 2, 2009
“In this richly absorbing novel Chamberlain creates a heroine so vivid,
so complex, so passionate that she walks right off the page and into
the reader's mind and heart. I loved following Rose through her various
vicissitudes, romantic and musical, and through her many relationships
with friends, colleagues, students and lovers. The Rose Variations
is one of those rare novels that captures the complexity of a life
lived over time, and does so in beautiful, eloquent prose. A brilliant
debut.”
--Margot Livesey, author of The House of Fortune Street
More about The Rose Variations by Marisha Chamberlain
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The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass
Music by Carol Barnett. Text by Marisha Chamberlain. 2007.
In collaboration with composer Carol Barnett,
a work which combines classical choral music and the Bluegrass idiom in
a new rendition of the Catholic Mass. Chamberlain’s text embodies the
notion that Jesus Christ, much as a traditional Zen bodhisattva, out of
compassion, gave up any distance from human suffering.
“…Much of the credit for the success of the piece has to go to
librettist Marisha Chamberlain who took the Catholic liturgy and
transformed it … Chamberlain replaced the notion of original sin with
that of original blessing and created a work of life-affirming
celebration.” The Minneapolis Star Tribune
Recording available from VocalEssence, Monroe Crossing, and Gothic Records.
Sheet music published by Boosey & Hawkes, available from Hal Leonard.
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Scheherazade
Play by Marisha Chamberlain
Script and performance rights available from Dramatists Play Service
This often harrowing but ultimately soaring first play traces the
fate of a rape victim from initial trauma to the eventual
reconciliation of this shattering event into the continuum of her life.
"…a work that stimulates an audience—not just intellectually, but emotionally." Minneapolis City Pages
“…to sustain terror, to pull the tension wire tight
for 90 minutes, is something else. To do this and also explore a
subject with intelligence, power, courage and compassion is really
quite remarkable." Chicago Sun-Times
"…a play that provokes discussion, thought, soul searching, even argument." Minneapolis Star and Tribune
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| Aidan Quinn and Barbara Gaines in the world premiere of Scheherazade, Victory Gardens Theater, Chicago, 1984. |
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Little Women
Adapted for the stage by Marisha Chamberlain
Script and performance rights available from Playscripts, Inc.
Under the guidance of their beloved mother, the four young March
sisters -- tempestuous Jo, motherly Meg, shy Beth, and spoiled baby Amy
-- struggle to keep their family going while Father's away in the Civil
War. In this beautifully dramatized adaptation of the classic novel,
even as privation, illness, and sibling rivalry cast their shadows,
each girl strives to find her true self.
"The story, as revealed in Chamberlain's deft
adaptation, is a warm tale of love, family, and individuality during
the American Civil War." Minneapolis Star and Tribune
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| Charity Jones as Jo and Kevin McCormack as Laurie in Little Women, Children’s Theater Company premiere, Minneapolis. |
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Hope for Breakfast
Play by Marisha Chamberlain
Script and performance rights available from Playscripts, Inc.
Hope for Breakfast intertwines the beloved story of Little Women
with what actually went on in the family life of the novel's author,
Louisa May Alcott. Living in the intellectual hub of Massachusetts,
circa 1840, young Louisa strives to keep her family together and safe
from starvation, despite the harebrained schemes of her father, the
Transcendentalist philosopher Bronson Alcott, who has sworn off working
for money. At points of unbearable tension, Louisa retreats to an
imaginary world -- the harmonious family life of her novel, Little
Women -- whose publication ultimately leads to a precipitous and ironic
rise in her real family's fortunes.
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Young Jane Eyre
Play by Marisha Chamberlain
Script and performance rights available from Playscripts, Inc.
In this adaptation of the first nine chapters of Charlotte Bronte's
masterpiece, 10-year-old Jane Eyre is driven from Gateshead Manor,
where she lives as a despised poor relation, to a harshly disciplined
boarding school where she nevertheless makes true friends, faces her
past, and prepares herself for an independent future as a governess.
"Marisha Chamberlain's script remains close enough to
the novel to retain the story's captivating strength. … Those
unfamiliar with Bronte's story will have no trouble following the plot,
and Jane Eyre's stalwart devotees, of which there are understandably many, will never feel cheated." Minnesota Daily
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| Raina Brody as Jane Eyre and Hillary Cooperman as Helen Burns in Young Jane Eyre, Children’s Theater Company premiere, Minneapolis. |
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The Canterville Ghost
Play by Marisha Chamberlain
Script and performance rights available from Playscripts, Inc.
A no-nonsense American family buys an old mansion in rural England,
scoffing at warnings of a fierce and violent resident ghost. The
spirited Americans -- Mother, Father, young Virginia, and her
mischievous little twin brothers -- may have found their match in the
equally spirited and clever ghost, who is determined to scare them out
or worse. He's outnumbered, however, and in the end, kind-hearted
Virginia helps him fulfill the terms of the legend that allow him
release into the afterlife.
"It's a pleasure to take the kids to see something that diffuses fear with humor, such as The Canterville Ghost...definitely a ghost story with a difference...and a particularly fine one." Dallas Morning News
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| Carl Beck as the Ghost and Jolayne Berg as Virginia Otis in The Canterville Ghost, Children’s Theater premiere, Minneapolis. |
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Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm
Play by Marisha Chamberlain
Script and performance rights available from Playscripts, Inc.
The story of a wild and mischievous girl who eventually wins the
hearts of not only her doting Aunt Jane but her severe Aunt Miranda.
Rebecca leaves her widowed mother, her six brothers and sisters, and
her beloved farm to go live with her aunts in town and get an
education. A spirited girl, she gets herself into all sorts of scrapes,
to her Aunt Miranda's disgust and dismay. At the heart of the play is a
debate: whether or not children are basically good at heart, and
whether or not it's a sin to be poor.
"Chamberlain captures the charm and intelligence of
Wiggin's novel with a script that deftly combines humor, emotion and
message... Today, the play has a gentle relevance as we compare the
simplicity and sparseness of Rebecca's world to the complexity of our
own." Minneapolis Star and Tribune
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| Cortnee Langlie as Rebecca and Suzanne Koepplinger as Aunt Miranda in Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Children’s Theater premiere, Minneapolis. |
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Powers
Poems by Marisha Chamberlain
Published in 1983 by New Rivers Press
Currently out-of-print, but available from used book sellers.
Excerpt:
The Stars Are Apple Clusters
Tiredness branches
behind my eyes the first day
I pick apples. Day’s end, my hands
still reach to pick. I put my hands,
like gloves with holes,
away in my pockets.
Darkness unleashes stars
and I connect them in dark trees:
the stars are apple clusters.
Night falls down on my head like a tarp.
I rip a hole in the night
and reach up to pick the stars.
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