Setting

Children of a Lesser God is a drama set "m the mind of James Leeds." Characters in the play step from his memory for a few lines or an entire scene. There are two "places" where the action occurs: the State School for the Deaf and James Leeds's house across the road. In Act I, time is "fluid." Scenes from past and present blend together often without the audience realizing what has happened. In Act II, the sense of time is more linear, although not completely so; there is more of a sense that one scene comes to a conclusion before another scene begins The audience is better able to follow plot movement as the action progresses from the card party to James's frustration of serving as Sarah's constant interpreter to the complaint before the Commission to the climactic scene in which James forces Sarah to speak. The...