Joan of Arkansas
Joan of Arkansas
$20.00
Out of stock
About the Book
Joan of Arkansas is an election-season closet drama about climate catastrophe, divine gender expression, the instructions of angels, and heavenly revelation relayed via viral video. Fifteen-year-old Joan has been tasked by God (They/Them) to ensure that Charles VII (R–Arkansas) adopts radical climate policy and wins his bid as the Lord’s candidate to become the president of the United States. Arkansas is flooding, the West is burning, and borders are closed: “Heaven or / internet—it’s / hard to be / good.”
Winner of the 2023 Whiting Award for Drama, finalist for a Lambda Award in LGBTQ+ Drama.
Author
Milo Wippermann
is the author of Joan of Arkansas, which was a finalist for a 2024 Lambda Award in LGBTQ+ Drama and has been supported by Woolly Mammoth and the Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts. In 2023, he won a Whiting Award in poetry and drama. Wippermann holds an MFA from Brown University and lives in Lenapehoking, Brooklyn, NY.
Praise
Praise for Previous Work
In the News
Excerpt
ANGEL 1 Joan, I’ve been meaning to tell you that for the next step in all this you’ll need better lighting ANGEL 2 And baby, maybe do something with your hair [Joan lifts a lock—] ANGEL 3 What have we been telling you, Joan, about all this business with the phone? JOAN [aggrieved] Optics, optics, optics ANGEL 1 “Therefore we have Joan, who is photogenic and will die for our emission sins” ANGEL 3 We need the people to understand Their always imminent closeness ANGEL 1 In the spirit of apocalyptic times, God is working with a logic of immediacy ANGEL 2 The pixels of Their image must illuminate the photons out in the world! ANGEL 3 Your low-res self, Joan, allows room for concept ANGEL 2 Picture yourself a painted icon ANGEL 1 Use your words and your image! Anchor this present which flees with the speed of a click! ANGEL 2 And now… JOAN Don’t go! ANGEL 3 Sorry it’s God—Oh, no ANGEL 1 Oh Joan, baby, it’s gonna get wet— ANGEL 2 Be careful, dear— the river—we’re sorry, Joan, it’s God— ANGEL 3 They call!