Stacy Davidowitz

THE RUBBER ROOM

Manhattan. A gray room in a shabby office building. A poster is taped to the wall. “Children are fragile. Handle with care.” A red pen has corrected the sentence, reminding us that, in this place, the first word should be "TEACHERS." 

Welcome to the Rubber Room.

One room, six desks, a guarded door; a temporary reassignment center where mismatched teachers (accused of incompetence, misconduct or unconfirmed) torture each other and themselves. Enduring excruciating days, months and, sometimes, years away from the lives they led and the students they love.

Based on a true story. Really. At once hilarious and tragic, Davidowitz's unique play throws a group of educational misfits together and watches them erupt as they're forced to share space and time, struggling to understand the frustrating futility of what it is to be a "good teacher." Combining electric dialogue with recorded interludes based on real Rubber Roomers and their abandoned pupils, the play explores Sartre's comment that "hell is other people." Especially when the hometime bell just refuses to ring.

- The Old Vic, London