This is the love story of Ethel and Norman Thayer, who are returning to their summer home on Golden Pond for the forty-eighth year. He is a retired professor, nearing eighty, with heart palpita tions and a failing memory—but still as tart-tongued, observant and eager for life as ever. Ethel, ten years younger, and the perfect foil for Norman, delights in all the small things that have enriched and continue to enrich their long life together. They are visited by their divorced, middle-aged daughter and her dentist-fiancé, who then go off to Europe, leaving his teenage son behind for the summer. The boy quickly becomes the “grandchild” the elderly couple have longed for, and as Nor man revels in taking his ward fishing and thrusting good books at him, he also learns some lessons about modern teenage awareness—and slang—in return. In the end, as the summer wanes, so does their brief idyll, and in the final, deeply moving moments of the play, Norman and Ethel are brought even closer together by the incidence of a mild heart attack. Time, they know, is now against them, but the years have been good and, perhaps, another summer on Golden Pond still awaits.
Characters: 3 men, 2 women, 1 boy. (Note: all ages are approximate. You must be able to believably play the age listed, not necessarily be the age listed).
• Norman Thayer, Jr.: Male, age 79. Nearing his eightieth birthday, Norman is flirting with senil ity and is aware of it enough to use it to his advantage, usually in a humorous way. Many feel he is a curmudgeon, as he feels his age entitles him to be., but he is also a highly intelligent for mer professor, accustomed to being able to hold captive his listeners who respect him for his intellect. This is all beginning to slip away for him and he knows it. He is very much in love with Ethel, his wife, but doesn’t quite know what to do about their daughter, Chelsea.
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• Ethel Thayer: Female, age 69. Ten years younger than Norman, Ethel is a spritely, active woman who loves her husband completely and who is in love with simply being alive. She is a caregiver, sweetheart, and friend to Norman. She is happy, outgoing, and content. Since they met, she has taken the rough edges off Noman’s personality. Intelligent and well grounded, she has been
content to defer to Norman on many issues without losing her own identity.
• Chelsea Thayer Wayne: Female, age 42. Attractive, divorced, and in her forties, Chelsea is the only daughter of Norman and Ethel. She has a difficult relationship with her parents. She has never gotten along with Norman, and she feels that Ethel always takes Norman’s side of things.
• Charlie Martin: Male, age 44. The local delivery-by-boat mailman, Charlie is a long-time family friend and a typical Maine down-Easterner with a strong Maine accent. Still single, he is close in age to Chelsea and has had a life-long crush on her. Growing up, he saw Chelsea as a pretty, mysterious city girl, and he was fascinated with her.
• Bill Ray: Male, age 45. The dentist from California to whom Chelsea is engaged, Bill is definitely not the outdoors type. He is trying his best to make a good impression on Norman and Ethel. Bill has a thirteen-year-old son, Billy, who will now be living with his father. Bill is becoming very satisfied with new-found changes in his life, both on personal and professional fronts.
• Billy Ray, Jr.: Male, age 13. Bill Ray’s son. Prior to becoming a teenager, Billy had spent more time with his mother than with his father, Bill, with whom he is now living. Flippant, but only to cover his awkwardness. He is eager and bright, his hair long and his posture terrible.
