Talley & Son

Talley & Son
Cover of the paperback edition published by Hill and Wang, July 1986
Written by	Lanford Wilson
Date premiered	September 24, 1985
Place premiered	Circle Repertory Theater New York City
Original language	English
Series	Talley Family trilogy
Subject	A father and son battle to control the future of the family business
Genre	Drama
Setting	Lebanon, Missouri July 4, 1944

Talley & Son is a play by Lanford Wilson, the third in his trilogy focusing on the Talley family of Lebanon, Missouri. It is set on July 4, 1944, the same day as Talley's Folly and thirty-three years prior to the events in Fifth of July.

The play originally was produced Off-Broadway as A Tale Told in June 1981. Directed by Marshall W. Mason, the cast starred Patricia Wettig, Helen Stenborg, Michael Higgins (Eldon), Fritz Weaver (Mr. Talley), and Trish Hawkins (Sally).

Wilson was unhappy with the work and revised it substantially over the next four years. In Talley & Son, the dysfunctional family is debating the murky future of the family-owned businesses, a local bank and textile factory that seem destined to be absorbed by a conglomerate once World War II ends. Eldon Talley took control of the enterprises when his favored, elder brother died young, and although he has been successful, his miserly, bigoted father Calvin, who is expected to die at any moment, despises him and his efforts to defy his authority. Other characters include Eldon's spinster sister Lottie, a cynical rebel dying of industrial radium poisoning; his complacent wife Netta; their daughter Sally, who is dating a Jewish accountant; and Avalaine Platt, a mysterious visitor who claims she is Eldon's illegitimate daughter. Quietly observing the scene is the spirit of Timmy, Eldon and Netta's son, who has just been killed in battle in the South Pacific and has returned home a few hours before his parents receive the telegram announcing his death.

The play opened Off-Broadway (as Talley & Son) at the Circle Repertory Theater on September 24, 1985 and ran for 42 performances. Directed by Marshall W. Mason, the cast included Farley Granger as Eldon, Edward Seamon as Calvin, Joyce Reehling Christopher as Lottie, Helen Stenborg as Netta, Trish Hawkins as Sally, Lisa Emery as Viola, and Robert Macnaughton as Timmy. Both Granger and Stenborg won the 1986 Obie Award, Performance.