Free Dead Man's Cell Phone by Sarah Ruhl

acknowledgments
    Many thanks to Rebecca Taichman and to Howard Shalwitz for all of the love you brought to the first incarnation of this play, for putting your full faith in it. To Anne Bogart and to Tim Sanford for finding the play’s second legs with such beauty. And to Jessica Thebus and Martha Lavey for understanding that a play needs a third production to finish the thing—and to Jessica for reading the first, second, third . . . twelfth drafts, of this play, and all the others. To the extraordinary actors who helped me crack this play—to Mary-Louise, forever Z; to Polly, the conscience of the play; to Bill for finding Gordon before he had to leave; to T. for memorizing twelve pages in two days; to Kathleen for the divine spark; and to David, Carla, Kelly, the WADS, Sarah, Jennifer, Naomi, Rick and Bruce for being so open to fabulation. Thanks to all the designers, and to Scott for the open mouth and paper houses. This play was written with the support of the Djerassi Foundation, was commissioned by Sonya Sobieski and Tim Sanford at Playwrights Horizons, and had a reading at the Lark and at New Dramatists early on in its life. Thanks to Annie Cheney for her book Body Brokers. Thank you to Sarah Curtis,
Yang Zom, Melissa Crespo, Jojo Karlin and Gia Marotta, for being my eyes and ears while I was at rehearsals. Thanks to Paula for coming to New York and checking in on me during previews. In my last book I thanked my writer friends. I feel remiss for not thanking non-writer friends, because, truth be told, a writer needs non-writer friends to stay sane as much as or more than she needs writer friends. Thank you to Sarah Hinkel, Erin Crowley, Sarah Geraghty, Jeremy Giller, Kirsten Deluca, Andy Goldman and Nicole Rose for being the kind of people who show up to a wake, and stay late. Thanks to Masha Paramonova, because you wanted your name in a book, and here it is for all time. Thanks to the nameless woman who worked at the Holocaust Museum who returned my cell phone to me. Oh, and thanks to the cowboy who sold me my first cell phone at the base of a mountain in a far off land.

PRODUCTION HISTORY
    The world premiere production of Dead Man’s Cell Phone was produced in June 2007 by Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company (Howard Shalwitz, Artistic Director) in Washington, D.C. The production was directed by Rebecca Bayla Taichman; the set design was by Neil Patel, the costume design was by Kate Turner-Walker, the lighting design was by Colin K. Bills, the sound design was by Martin Desjardins, the choreography was by Karma Camp; the properties master was Jennifer Sheetz; the dramaturg was Elissa Goetschius and the stage manager was Taryn Colberg. The cast was as follows:
    A WOMAN, JEAN
Polly Noonan
A DEAD MAN, GORDON
Rick Foucheux
GORDON’S MOTHER, MRS. GOTTLIEB
Sarah Marshall
GORDON’S WIDOW, HERMIA
Naomi Jacobson
GORDON’S BROTHER, DWIGHT
Bruce Nelson
THE OTHER WOMAN/THE STRANGER
Jennifer Mendenhall
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    The New York premiere of Dead Man’s Cell Phone was produced in March 2008 by Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director). The production
was directed by Anne Bogart; the set and costume design were by G. W. Mercier, the lighting design was by Brian H Scott, the soundscape was by Darron L West and the production stage manager was Elizabeth Moreau. The cast was as follows:
    A WOMAN, JEAN
Mary-Louise Parker
A DEAD MAN, GORDON
T. Ryder Smith
GORDON’S MOTHER, MRS. GOTTLIEB
Kathleen Chalfant
GORDON’S WIDOW, HERMIA
Kelly Maurer
GORDON’S BROTHER, DWIGHT
David Aaron Baker
THE OTHER WOMAN/THE STRANGER
Carla Harting
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    Dead Man’s Cell Phone was produced in March 2008 by Steppenwolf Theatre Company (Martha Lavey, Artistic Director; David Hawkanson, Executive Director). The production was directed by Jessica Thebus; the set design was by Scott Bradley, the costume design was by Linda Roethke, the lighting design was by James F. Ingalls, the