Nevis Mountain Dew is a 1978 play by American playwright steve carter. Set in the 1950s, it is the second of Carter's Caribbean trilogy. Nevis Mountain Dew explores the subject of euthanasia involving the patriarch of an affluent family who is confined to an iron lung.

Characters

Plot synopsis

Set in the Queens borough of New York City in 1954, a Caribbean-American family gathers to celebrate the 50th birthday of Jared Philibert, who is confined to an iron lung due to paralysis. Ayton, Jared's best friend, arrives at the party with a bottle of rum called "Nevis Mountain Dew." When people drink it, the rum seems to act as a truth serum.

Origins of the play

Nevis Mountain Dew is loosely based on the experience of a patient that the playwright encountered while working in a hospital. The play is dedicated to him.

Original off-Broadway production

Cast

Understudies

Nevis Mountain Dew was selected among ten New York City productions as one of "The Best Plays of 1978–1979."

Washington, D.C., production

Cast

Los Angeles production (West Coast premiere)

Cast

Comparison with Whose Life Is It Anyway?

Both Nevis Mountain Dew and Brian Clark's Whose Life Is It Anyway? were selected as one of the ten best plays of the 1978–1979 season in New York City. Each play tackles the subject of euthanasia through the eyes of a man that has become paralyzed. Otis L. Guernsey Jr., editor of The Best Plays of 1978–1979 theatre yearbook, which recognized the two productions that season, made the following observation:"'Nevis Mountain Dew of course invites comparison with this season's British script on much the same subject, Whose Life Is It Anyway?, and the NEC variation on this theme holds its own. It doesn't confront its invalid's question 'To be or not to be?' as polemically as its British counterpart, but it takes a similar stand and a closer look at the effects of such a prolongued [sic] calamity on those surrounding the victim.'"

Awards and recognition