Visiting Mr. Green, Program Notes

Jeff Baron’s first play, had its world premiere at the Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge, MA, on June 20, 1996. A year and a half later it opened Off Broadway at the Union Square Theatre and ran for 354 performances. Translated into 22 languages, with over 200 productions in 27 countries, it has won best play awards in Israel, Greece, Germany and Turkey. 

The idea for the story came to the playwright from a friend, who volunteered to look after an elderly man; but the character of Mr. Green is based on Baron’s grandmother who helped raise him.  At the end of her life she needed help living on her own, and he made regular visits. When she died, Baron sat down to write and Mr. Green emerged.  The character of Ross is fashioned after himself. Baron is a Harvard Business School graduate who was once an executive for Coca-Cola. He left the corporate world, to write for television and film, contributing work to shows like the Tracey Ullman Show, A Year in the Life and Sisters. "It was horrifying," Baron says of the way his television scripts were rearranged and rewritten by others, "it's not for the faint-hearted." The theatre provided a medium in which he could have the final say. Visiting Mr. Green moves anyone who has ever yearned for parental acceptance, as Baron explains: "Family strife is the universal language."

Very simply, a great, beautiful, essential moment of theatre. It grabs us at the beginning and doesn’t let us go until the end.” —France Soir.

“A wise, absorbing and funny play that packs quite a punch. Sparks fly.” —Sunday Telegraph (Australia).

“Delicate, compact and compelling. A powerful play.” —Volkskrant (Holland).

“It is doubtful you are likely to encounter a play more enjoyable, more honestly funny and in the end, more moving than this delightful two-hander by Jeff Baron.” —Johannesburg Citizen.