Marjorie Prime

A SAMUEL FRENCH, INC. TITLE

Marjorie Prime

Full-Length Play, Drama  /  2w, 2m

Jordan Harrison

In this richly spare, wondrous new play, Jordan Harrison explores the mysteries of human identity and the limits – if any – of what technology can replace.

Image: 2015 Playwrights Horizons Production (Jeremy Daniel)

Marjorie Prime

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  • Cast Size
    Cast Size
    2w, 2m
  • Duration
    Duration
    75 Minutes
  • SubGenre
    Subgenre
    Science Fiction
  • Audience
    Target Audience
    Adult
Accolades
Accolades

  • Finalist: 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Drama

Marjorie Prime

Details

Summary

It’s the age of artificial intelligence, and 85-year-old Marjorie – a jumble of disparate, fading memories – has a handsome new companion who’s programmed to feed the story of her life back to her. What would we remember, and what would we forget, if given the chance? In this richly spare, wondrous new play, Jordan Harrison explores the mysteries of human identity and the limits – if any – of what technology can replace.


History

Marjorie Prime first premiered at the Mark Taper Forum/Center Theater Group in Los Angeles in September 2014, where the production was directed by Les Waters. It subsequently premiered on Broadway with Second Stage on 8 December 2025. Directed by Anne Kauffman, the production featured Danny Burstein, Christopher Lowell, Cynthia Nixon and June Squibb.

Cast Attributes
Keywords
Performing Groups

MARJORIE - 85.
WALTER - early 30s.
TESS - 55. Marjorie’s daughter.
JON - 55. Marjorie’s son-in-law.

  • Time Period New Millennium/21st Century
  • Setting

    Tess and Jon’s living room.

  • Features Contemporary Costumes/Street Clothes
  • Additional Features No Intermission
  • Duration 75 Minutes
  • Cautions
    • No Special Cautions

Media

“Jordan Harrison’s elegant, thoughtful and quietly unsettling drama… keeps developing in your head, like a photographic negative, long after you have seen it... At some point, you realize that it’s been landing skillfully targeted punch after punch, right where it hurts.” – The New York Times

“An elegant study of memory as both escape and prison.  In Anne Kauffman’s perfectly chilled yet cozy staging, the human parts of Harrison’s smart, lovely play are built to last.” – Time Out New York 

“Jordan Harrison’s play…has all the hallmarks of the best science fiction; it’s clever in conceit, alive with humor, surprising in its turns, and terribly haunting by the time the lights go out.” – The New Yorker

“Marjorie Prime…is primarily concerned with something eternal: the way our humanity is shaped and warped by the mysterious ebbs and flows of memory.” – Los Angeles Times

“Memory is an essential element of life – crucial to thought, feeling, progress, identity. But it also comes into play with particular power and meaning after someone who has been loved dies. And it is this tension between life and death – with memory functioning as connective tissue – that animates Jordan Harrison’s subtly shattering play, Marjorie Prime.” – Chicago Sun-Times

ON BREAKING CHARACTER

Here Comes the Singularity
by Sarah Lunnie
11 July 2016 

Someway Else
by Adam Greenfield
11 July 2016 

Playwright’s Perspective: MARJORIE PRIME
by Jordan Harrison
11 July 2016 

Videos

  • Marjorie Prime – Inside the Rehearsal Room on Broadway youtube thumbnail

    Marjorie Prime – Inside the Rehearsal Room on Broadway

  • Marjorie Prime – About The Play youtube thumbnail

    Marjorie Prime – About The Play

  • Marjorie Prime Audience Testemonials youtube thumbnail

    Marjorie Prime Audience Testemonials

  • Marjorie Prime at the Mark Taper Forum youtube thumbnail

    Marjorie Prime at the Mark Taper Forum

  • Jordan Harrison on Marjorie Prime youtube thumbnail

    Jordan Harrison on Marjorie Prime

  • Marjorie Prime at Writers Theatre - Toni youtube thumbnail

    Marjorie Prime at Writers Theatre - Toni

  • Marjorie Prime Playwright's Horizons Trailer youtube thumbnail

    Marjorie Prime Playwright's Horizons Trailer

Show more +

Photos

  • Marjorie Prime

    Image: 2015 Playwrights Horizons Production (Jeremy Daniel)

  • Marjorie Prime

    Image: 2015 Playwrights Horizons Production (Jeremy Daniel)

Licensing & Materials

  • Minimum Fee: £70 per performance plus VAT when applicable.

Scripts

Available Formats:
Get the Script

Authors

Jordan Harrison

Jordan Harrison

Jordan Harrison was a 2015 Pulitzer Prize finalist for Marjorie Prime. The play had its New York premiere at Playwrights Horizons and its Chicago premiere at Writers Theatre after premiering at the Mark Taper Forum/CTG in Los Angeles. His play Maple and Vine premiered in the ...

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