In 2005 the life of a woman known as Terri Schiavo came to an end after having spent 15 years in a vegetative state, giving rise to a heated debate of public opinion regarding the right to life, euthanasia, and other human rights.At the same time, in the Vatican, Pope Juan Pablo II was submitted to an endless series of medical treatments in order to prolong his life.

These two stories are joined and confronted in the play “Terri and the Pope”., two stories that pervaded the media at that time:in the U.S., the life of a woman was the subject of global debate.After spending all those long years in the hospital in a vegetative state, the right to life and other related topics were debated in the face of the decision to unplug her or not from the devices that kept her alive.At the same time in the Vatican, Pope John Paul II had reached old age and was submitted to medical treatments to prolong his life further..In the dramatic fiction presented in this play by Pablo Perel, both characters meet in one place: an intensive care unit in a hospital, one hour after their deaths.The actions and dialogues that take place between them give flesh and soul to current social debates regarding human rights as elementary as that of deciding on one’s own life.

This play invites the return of the theater to its original historical role: to bring people to the theater steps to watch and discuss the actual problems and circumstances affecting their collective lives.

Since it is a play that requires only two main characters and a sole setting, it is perfect for both drama and comedy students, small theater companies, schools, unions and universities and for the commercial theater circuit

Click on the photos and you can access the text of the play in kindle format or paperback.