The Mound Builders | When The Center Cannot Hold; or, The Problem of Mediation in Lanford Wilson’s The Mound Builders
In the following essay, Callens discusses Wilson’s intent, his characters, and critical response to The Mound Builders.
The Mound Builders, was first produced by New York’s Circle Repertory Company on February 2, 1975, under the guidance of Marshall W. Mason, Lanford Wilson’s usual director. It could have been the simple story of how ‘‘The signing of an energy bill in Washington transforms rural areas into resorts.’’ But important archeological discoveries determined it otherwise. In Wilson’s play the decision to build the Blue Shoals Dam in Southern Illinois indeed interferes with the excavation of remnants from the Early Mississippian Culture. The ensuing complications are enough to...
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