Whores (play)
Encyclopedia
Whores is a play by Lee Blessing
.
Whores features Raoul de Raoul, a fictional Central American dictator of an unnamed country. The play alternates between what is presumably reality, where he is living in Florida and defending himself against charges of war crimes, and his imagination, where four nuns play out roles such as his family, pornographic video stars, or dance teachers.
The four women are based on the real life death of three nuns (Ita Ford
, Dorothy Kazel
, Maura Clarke
) and one social worker (Jean Donovan
) who were beaten, raped, and murdered by five members of the National Guard of El Salvador
, which was armed and supported by the United States.
The play attacks both the dictatorships and the United States policies that support them; Raoul complains: "You send us rifles and nuns. You are the least consistent people on the face of the earth." Raoul realizes that he has little power without the backing of the United States; his sexual impotence develops analogously.
Lee Blessing
-Biography:Blessing's best-known play is A Walk in the Woods, which depicts the developing relationship between two arms limitation negotiators, one Russian and one American, over years of negotiation...
.
Whores features Raoul de Raoul, a fictional Central American dictator of an unnamed country. The play alternates between what is presumably reality, where he is living in Florida and defending himself against charges of war crimes, and his imagination, where four nuns play out roles such as his family, pornographic video stars, or dance teachers.
The four women are based on the real life death of three nuns (Ita Ford
Ita Ford
Ita Ford, M.M. was a Roman Catholic Maryknoll Sister missionary to Bolivia, Chile and El Salvador. She worked with the poor and war refugees. On December 2, 1980, she was tortured, raped, and murdered, along with fellow missionaries Maura Clarke, M.M., laywoman Jean Donovan, and Dorothy Kazel,...
, Dorothy Kazel
Dorothy Kazel
Dorothy Kazel was an American Ursuline nun and missionary to El Salvador. On December 2, 1980, she and fellow missionaries Ita Ford, Jean Donovan and Maura Clarke were raped and murdered by members of the military of El Salvador.-Life and work:Kazel was born Dorthea Lu Kazel to Lithuanian American...
, Maura Clarke
Maura Clarke
Sister Maura Clarke, M.M., was an American Roman Catholic Maryknoll Sister, who served as a missionary in Nicaragua and El Salvador. She worked with the poor and refugees in Central America from 1959 until her death in 1980...
) and one social worker (Jean Donovan
Jean Donovan
Jean Donovan was an American lay missionary who was murdered with three nuns in El Salvador by a military death squad while volunteering to do charity work during the civil war there.-Life:...
) who were beaten, raped, and murdered by five members of the National Guard of El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
, which was armed and supported by the United States.
The play attacks both the dictatorships and the United States policies that support them; Raoul complains: "You send us rifles and nuns. You are the least consistent people on the face of the earth." Raoul realizes that he has little power without the backing of the United States; his sexual impotence develops analogously.