Based on a series of poems that Dr. Pellegrino wrote from his experiences as a medical resident, this play is about a prominent physician who finds himself haunted by the memories of former patients whom he feels he let down. At the end of his career and faced with his own health problems, he is compelled to face these difficult memories and be held accountable for his actions. Ultimately, these very patients help him understand the power of hope and rediscover the emotions and ideals that called him to medicine in the first place.

Completed in 2011, this is Dr. Pellegrino’s second play and was first produced in 2012 in association with Roger Hendricks Simon and the Simon Studios in New York City. Since then the play has been produced in several showcase runs in NYC, Little Rock, Arkansas and at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. The Hopkins performance was part of a program that began with a seminar in which medical students read from the script in front of Eddie Lew, a Director at Simon Studios, and Dr. Pellegrino. Students were then engaged regarding the artistic, emotional and medical issues confronting their characters as it relates to medicine. The staged reading, using professional actors from the NY cast, was performed in front of faculty and the entire student body. In January 2018, the play will be showcased again at the Players Club, a 129 year old theatrical club off Gramercy Park in NYC. Dr. Pellegrino is a member of the club and as well as being a member of the Dramatist's Guild.

Marginalia: The Making of a Play

Cast for the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine performance:

Written by Richard G. Pellegrino MD, PhD
Produced by The Art of Medicine Project and Simon Studios, NYC
Sponsored by the Colleges Program of the Johns Hopkins Medical School and The Art of Medicine Project.

Roger Hendricks Simon, Director Eddie Lew, Associate Director

Tony: Roger Hendricks Simon

Mary: Karin de la Penha

Bernie: Robert S. Gregory

Ellen: Chandra Albritton

Reginald: Michael Siktberg

Musican: Erica Roff