Two Dollar Bill at PTC

Last night I had the opportunity to see the world premiere of a powerful and provocative play called Two Dollar Bill by playwright T.J. Brady at Pioneer Theatre.  It takes place in the present day on an unnamed Ivy League University campus where it is discovered that a well-respected and tenured history professor has falsified his undergraduate degree.  The play opens with Bill Dudley (Mark Zimmerman) lecturing to a U.S. History class on the Treaty of Paris which "officially" ended the Revolutionary War even though the British had surrendered at Yorktown a year earlier.  He states that the fledgling country needed legitimacy, in the form of an official piece of paper, in the eyes of the world.  Thus the central theme of the play is introduced:  what constitutes legitimacy?  Dudley is informed by the dean of faculty, who happens to be his wife, that the University has discovered that he was one credit short of receiving his Bachelor's degree and demands his resignation while an undergraduate student demands that a failing grade be changed because it will ruin her GPA and, therefore, her chances of getting into law school or business school.  In the midst of these goings-on, Dudley laments the loss of a two dollar bill given to him by his father and wonders why the lack of a degree makes him unsuitable for a position he has held for over thirty years and why his student seems more interested in getting a degree rather than learning the material.  Is legitimacy based on a piece of paper rather than knowledge and ability?  In the end, Dudley finds the two dollar bill and gives it to his teaching assistant, asserting that he doesn't need a piece of paper to remember his father.  This play is incredibly thought-provoking, to say the least, judging by the many conversations swirling around me at intermission and, even though this play deals with higher education, I couldn't help but think about the pressure I am under to pass students in my classes when they have clearly not mastered the material because our school is judged on its graduation rate.  I enjoyed this production immensely, not only for the subject matter, but also for the excellent performances by the aforementioned Zimmerman, Lesley Fera as the dean of faculty, Corey Allen as Dudley's teaching assistant, and Ephie Aardema as Dudley's undergraduate student.  Aardema is especially effective as an entitled student who, at one point, calls her Dad to threaten the school over her grade.  I'm sure she prepared for her role by visiting one of the high schools nearby (said without the slightest bit of cynicism).  I highly recommend this timely drama, especially to anyone concerned over the state of public education in this country.  It runs at PTC through January 30 and tickets may be purchased here.