History Matters / Celebrating Women's Plays of the Past

The Children's Hour
The Children's Hour, Act 3, Excerpt 3

Back to Scene Library

The Scene

About the Playwright

Lillian Hellman

Lillian Hellman

Lillian Hellman (1905-1984) ranks among the most famous and controversial of American playwrights. She never shied away from provocative, social justice-based themes. Her first play, The Children’s Hour (1934), about two owners of a girls’ school accused of having a lesbian affair, was considered so shocking that some members of the Pulitzer Prize committee refused to see it, costing it a nomination. Toys in the Attic (1960) featured two eccentric Southern sisters whose potential was never value…
View Profile

One Play at a Time Participating Universities

Adriana Baer
Portland State University

Sheila Confer
University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg

George Contini
University of Georgia

Carla Corona
Antelope Valley College

Anne Fliotsos
Purdue University

Carolyn Grimstead
Long Island University, Post

Victor Holtcamp
Tulane University

Alma Martinez
University of La Verne

Jennie Pardoe
University of Missouri

Jennifer Popple
Augustana College

Tara Brooke Watkins
Eastern Nazarene College

Join & Participate Tell Us Your Experience

Tell us your experience

I'm a:

Student

Professor

Submit

* indicates a required field.

Tell us your experience on our social media platforms:

Stay tuned for more play summaries
in the coming months.

Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed. If I fail, no one will say, ‘She doesn't have what it takes’; They will say, "Women don't have what it takes."

-Clare Luce Booth