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The Dog Problem (play)

play

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJan 22, 2026
Entity authorityQ7730517
Source-derived summary

The Dog Problem is a play by David Rabe that premiered, May 6, 2001, in New York City at the Atlantic Theater Company.

The cast included Joe Pacheco as Ronnie, Larry Clarke as Ray, David Wike as Joey, Victor Argo as Uncle Malvolio, Tony Cucci as Tommy Stones, Andrea Gabriel as Teresa, Robert Bella as Priest, and Buddy as The Dog. The Creative team included: Director: Scott Ellis, producer Noel Ashman, Costumes: Michael Krass, Lighting: Brian Nason, Sets: Allen Moyer, Sound: Eileen Tague, Fight Direction: Rick Sordelet.

History

The first version of the play premiered at the Williamstown Theater Festival in the summer of 1998 as a one-act play entitled Corners. The cast included Joe Pacheco as Ronnie, Robert Pastorelli as Ray, Christopher Meloni as Joey, Victor Argo as Uncle Malvolio, Ty Burrell as Tommy Stones, and Kathryn Hahn as Theresa. The production team included Scott Ellis (director), Allen Moyer (set design), Brian Nason (lights), Eilenn Hague (sound), and Constance Hoffman (costumes).

An expanded version of Corners premiered in 2000 at the Long Wharf Theatre (Stage 2) under the name The Dog Problem. Scott Ellis directed that production and the cast included Joe Pacheco as Ronnie, Larry Clarke as Ray, David Wike as Joey, Victor Argo as Uncle Malvolio, Andrea Gabriel as Theresa, Michael Kell as Priest, and Ed Lemert as The Dog.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “The Dog Problem (play)” as play. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA useful identification and reception guide that helps separate the work itself from editions, performances, ownership and later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2001, 1998, 2000—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where Problem and play can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as play. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Reception evidence should be dated and situated: later canonical status may differ sharply from the work’s initial circulation. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7730517. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2001, 1998 and 2000.

Critical limits

Rights, attribution and provenance may remain disputed even when a general reference summary presents a stable account. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “The Dog Problem (play)”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow The Dog Problem (play) primary sources, The Dog Problem (play) archive and Problem research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Dog Problem (play)”?
  2. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
  3. Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from The Dog Problem (play)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.