Thornton Wilder - 2025 ACF Fall

Question

A play by this author opens with the patriarch of a family inventing the alphabet and the wheel. (10[4])Cain is renamed Henry (-5[1])after killing Abel in a play by this (10[1])author, (10[1])in which the Antrobus (10[2])family (10[1])survives (10[3]-5[1])a great flood (10[2]-5[1])and (10[1])an ice age. (10[4]-5[1])In (10[1])the (10[1])“Daily Life” section of a (10[1])play by this author, (-5[1])a choir sings “Blessed be the (10[1])Tie (10[1])that (10[1])Binds” (10[2])under the direction of the (10[1])alcoholic (10[2])Simon Stimson. (10[2])A (10[1])character (10[1])created (10[2])by this playwright (-5[1])asks, (10[1])“Do (10[1])any human (10[1])beings (-5[1])ever (10[1]-5[1])realize life while (10[1])they (10[1])live (10[1])it?” (10[1]-5[1])This author of The Skin of Our Teeth (10[1])depicted (10[2])Emily (10[1]-5[1])Webb (10[3]-5[1])reliving her (10[1])12th (10[3])birthday (10[4])in (10[1])a (10[1])play where (10[1])the Stage (10[1])Manager (10[1]-5[1])narrates (10[2]-5[1])about life in (10[2])Grover’s (10[1])Corners. (-5[3])For 10 points, (10[4])name this playwright of Our (-5[1])Town. (10[2])■END■ (10[9]0[13])

ANSWER: Thornton Wilder [or Thornton Niven Wilder]

<Editors, American Literature>

= Average correct buzz position

Summary


Northern California	Main	Y	3	67%	0%	67%	99.00
Southern California	Main	Y	7	71%	0%	0%	93.40
Eastern Canada (1)	Main	Y	5	80%	0%	40%	87.75
Eastern Canada (2)	Main	Y	7	86%	0%	29%	97.50
Florida	Main	Y	3	100%	0%	0%	93.33
Great Lakes	Main	Y	11	73%	0%	45%	77.63
Lower Mid-Atlantic	Main	Y	8	88%	0%	25%	76.57
Upper Mid-Atlantic	Main	Y	1	0%	0%	0%	0.00
Upper Mid-Atlantic	Main	Y	9	100%	0%	11%	88.78
Upper Mid-Atlantic	Main	Y	2	100%	0%	0%	118.00
Midwest	Main	Y	9	100%	0%	0%	63.78
North	Main	Y	4	75%	0%	25%	79.00
Northeast	Main	Y	1	100%	0%	0%	71.00
Pacific	Main	Y	8	100%	0%	0%	92.00
South Central	Main	Y	5	80%	0%	20%	71.25
Southeast	Main	Y	11	91%	0%	9%	67.20
Upstate NY	Main	Y	4	75%	0%	0%	81.33

Buzzes

Player	Team	Opponent	Buzz Position	Value
Towery McNeil	Mississippi State A	Vanderbilt A	17	10
Kevin Yang	Illinois Blue	Indiana A	17	10
Camden Walker	WashU Grolars	Iowa B	17	10
Keira Flenniken	Oklahoma	Kansas State B	17	10
Sewanth Paudel	Ohio State C	Louisville A	21	-5
Eric Zhu	Cornell D	ESF	29	10
Aaron Bates	Washington Pink	Washington Chum	30	10
Devin Tharp	Chipola College	Montevallo	34	10
Abigail Lee	Virginia Tech C	Liberty C	34	10
Alden Thompson	Carleton A	McGill E	35	10
Anna Bocook	Louisville D	CWRU A	36	-5
Ethan Altshul	Emory A	Tennessee Tech	36	10
Pranav Jothi	Georgia Tech A	Georgia Tech D	36	10
Gannon Smith	Maryland A	George Mason B	36	10
Britton Webster	Alabama A	Clemson C	39	10
Thomas Jenkins	Michigan B	WVU A	39	-5
Nick Smemoe	UNC A	Virginia Tech B	39	10
Ethan Enochian	Purdue D	William Woods University A	40	10
Kevin Zheng	Michigan A	Michigan C	43	-5
Henry Siegler	Toronto D	Guelph A	43	10
Mary Kate Vance	Louisville A	Ohio State C	43	10
Natalie Gehring	Murray State College A	Central Oklahoma A	43	10
Matthew Bucek	George Mason A	Maryland C	43	10
Drew Wetterlind	Iowa State	Michigan Tech	44	10
Cole Hennessy	UCF A	Florida B	45	10
Brody Johnson	Louisville B	Michigan State D	50	10
Gary Wang	Michigan D	Michigan State A	54	-5
March Delfin	UCSD A	Claremont A	60	10
Meredith Wiper	CWRU B	Ohio State B	61	10
Henry Bauer	NYU A	George Mason C	62	10
Colette Giezentanner	WashU Grizzlers	Purdue A	63	10
Ilyas Choukri	Virginia Tech A	William & Mary A	63	10
Gabrielle Smith	Auburn A	Georgia A	68	10
Andrew Nucci	UCLA B	UCLA E	69	10
Peter Zeng	Ohio State A	Ohio State D	69	10
Mia Liu	Berkeley Little Prince	Stanford A	71	10
Christopher Bradley	Southern Connecticut State University A	Boston College B	71	10
Anne Fjeld	Alberta A	Washington Chinook	72	10
Beckett Pursey	Purdue B	Rose-Hulman A	73	10
David Ropp	Duke A	UNC B	74	10
Sophia Peng	Rutgers C	Princeton	74	10
Jonathan Sung	Virginia A	NCSU A	77	-5
Elizabeth Bowling	Indiana B	Chicago B	78	10
Andrew Harms	Michigan State A	Michigan D	79	10
Lily Hughbanks	Purdue C	Chicago A	81	10
Sean Gao	Toronto E	Toronto C	82	-5
Charlotte Bauer	McGill C	Ottawa D	83	-5
Christian Humeniuk	McMaster A	Toronto F	83	10
Valerie Brown	Carleton B	Ottawa C	86	10
Henry Nonnemaker	CWRU C	Michigan State C	87	10
Andrew Miller	Binghamton A	Cornell C	88	10
Anneke Stracks	Macalester	Wisconsin A	89	10
Scott Hyde	Georgia Tech B	Clemson A	89	-5
Samarth Prajapati	Georgia Tech E	Tennessee B	97	10
Simarya Ahuja	Washington Sockeye	Washington Masu	98	10
Mason Evans	Tulsa A	Murray State College B	98	10
Virginia Brooks	Minnesota	Wisconsin C	99	-5
Max Kurzman	UNC D	William & Mary B	99	10
Annoshae Mirza	Berkeley Archer Queen	Berkeley Skeleton King	100	-5
Miriam Lee	Queen's A	Toronto I	100	10
Sarah Silverman	Claremont C	Claremont B	100	10
Fern Fang	VCU A	UNC C	100	10
Adriana Kim	Illinois Champaign	Illinois Canada	102	10
Samarth Majmudar	Illinois Urbana	Illinois Orange	103	10
Keerthana Krishnan	Texas	Washington Coho	103	10
Rae Meyers	Arizona State A	Boise State	103	10
Connor King	St. Thomas	Wisconsin B	104	10
Trey Lewis	South Carolina A	Auburn C	104	10
Anjali Rao	Ottawa B	McGill A	104	10
Alex Wong	Rutgers D	Johns Hopkins	104	10
Kara Braun	Michigan State B	Kentucky	105	10
Arlene Lopez	Stony Brook	NYU B	106	10
Ruby Xia	Arizona State B	British Columbia B	108	10
Brendan Liaw	British Columbia A	Washington Steelhead	110	10
Erica Wang	UC Santa Barbara	UCSD B	111	10
Devito Stevanus	McGill B	Ottawa A	111	-5
Jonathan Ho	Alberta B	British Columbia C	112	10
Elena Thai	Waterloo C	Brock A	112	-5
Michael Xu	McMaster B	Toronto B	112	10
Ryan Gomes	Florida Tech A	ERAU Daytona A	115	10
Asheton Wilbanks	Clemson B	Georgia Tech F	115	10
Jason Lee	Rutgers A	Rutgers B	116	10
Karthik Subramanian	Berkeley Boss Bandit	Stanford B	117	-5
Carly Hemani	JMU A	Tusculum A	117	-5
Vedh Ramesh	Penn	Vassar A	117	-5
Juan Landaeta	Florida State A	Florida Tech B	120	10
Shaynee Ruffle	Toronto G	Waterloo A	120	10
Claire Wilson	Lehigh B	Vassar B	120	10
Alex Grigoriades	Lehigh A	Rowan	120	10
Cassidy McIntyre	Rose State	Nebraska A	125	-5
John Rootham	Ottawa D	McGill C	126	10
Zeke Collins	Auburn B	Sewanne	126	10
Hansen Jin	Berkeley Skeleton King	Berkeley Archer Queen	127	10
Ishan Pachauri	UCLA C	UC Irvine	127	10
Brian Hobmann	UCLA F	UCLA D	127	0
Rebecca Li	Ottawa A	McGill B	127	0
Sai Subramanian	CWRU A	Louisville D	127	10
Reed Sexton	Michigan C	Michigan A	127	0
Jackson Hatcher	Nebraska A	Rose State	127	0
Sage Saperstein	USC B	USC A	127	0
Serena Salfiti	USC A	USC B	127	0
Nameer Qadir	Toronto C	Toronto E	127	10
Mohit Nair	CWRU D	WVU B	127	0
Venkat Das	WVU B	CWRU D	127	0
CJ Sershon	Central Oklahoma B	Harding	127	10
Ben Lanahan	Clemson A	Georgia Tech B	127	0
Chase Moss	WVU A	Michigan B	127	0
Connor Kahn	NCSU A	Virginia A	127	10
Andrew Wu	Columbia A	Columbia B	127	0
Cooper Morris	Columbia B	Columbia A	127	0
Rohit Chintala	Maryland B	NYU C	127	10
Eli Young	Vassar A	Penn	127	10
Derek Li	Cornell A	Cornell B	127	0
Will Hoover	RIT A	Binghamton C	127	10

Northern California

Main

67%

99.00

Southern California

Main

71%

93.40

Eastern Canada (1)

Main

80%

40%

87.75

Eastern Canada (2)

Main

86%

29%

97.50

Florida

Main

100%

93.33

Great Lakes

Main

73%

45%

77.63

Lower Mid-Atlantic

Main

88%

25%

76.57

0.00

100%

11%

88.78

Upper Mid-Atlantic

Main

100%

118.00

Midwest

Main

100%

63.78

North

Main

75%

25%

79.00

Northeast

Main

100%

71.00

Pacific

Main

100%

92.00

South Central

Main

80%

20%

71.25

Southeast

Main

91%

67.20

Upstate NY

Main

75%

81.33

Player

Team

Opponent

Buzz Position

Value

Towery McNeil

Mississippi State A

Vanderbilt A

Kevin Yang

Illinois Blue

Indiana A

Camden Walker

WashU Grolars

Iowa B

Keira Flenniken

Oklahoma

Kansas State B

Sewanth Paudel

Ohio State C

Louisville A

-5

Eric Zhu

Cornell D

ESF

Aaron Bates

Washington Pink

Washington Chum

Devin Tharp

Chipola College

Montevallo

Abigail Lee

Virginia Tech C

Liberty C

Alden Thompson

Carleton A

McGill E

Anna Bocook

Louisville D

CWRU A

-5

Ethan Altshul

Emory A

Tennessee Tech

Pranav Jothi

Georgia Tech A

Georgia Tech D

Gannon Smith

Maryland A

George Mason B

Britton Webster

Alabama A

Clemson C

Thomas Jenkins

Michigan B

WVU A

-5

Nick Smemoe

UNC A

Virginia Tech B

Ethan Enochian

Purdue D

William Woods University A

Kevin Zheng

Michigan A

Michigan C

-5

Henry Siegler

Toronto D

Guelph A

Mary Kate Vance

Louisville A

Ohio State C

Natalie Gehring

Murray State College A

Central Oklahoma A

Matthew Bucek

George Mason A

Maryland C

Drew Wetterlind

Iowa State

Michigan Tech

Cole Hennessy

UCF A

Florida B

Brody Johnson

Louisville B

Michigan State D

Gary Wang

Michigan D

Michigan State A

-5

March Delfin

UCSD A

Claremont A

Meredith Wiper

CWRU B

Ohio State B

Henry Bauer

NYU A

George Mason C

Colette Giezentanner

WashU Grizzlers

Purdue A

Ilyas Choukri

Virginia Tech A

William & Mary A

Gabrielle Smith

Auburn A

Georgia A

Andrew Nucci

UCLA B

UCLA E

Peter Zeng

Ohio State A

Ohio State D

Mia Liu

Berkeley Little Prince

Stanford A

Christopher Bradley

Southern Connecticut State University A

Boston College B

Anne Fjeld

Alberta A

Washington Chinook

Beckett Pursey

Purdue B

Rose-Hulman A

David Ropp

Duke A

UNC B

Sophia Peng

Rutgers C

Princeton

Jonathan Sung

Virginia A

NCSU A

-5

Elizabeth Bowling

Indiana B

Chicago B

Andrew Harms

Michigan State A

Michigan D

Lily Hughbanks

Purdue C

Chicago A

Sean Gao

Toronto E

Toronto C

-5

Charlotte Bauer

McGill C

Ottawa D

-5

Christian Humeniuk

McMaster A

Toronto F

Valerie Brown

Carleton B

Ottawa C

Henry Nonnemaker

CWRU C

Michigan State C

Andrew Miller

Binghamton A

Cornell C

Anneke Stracks

Macalester

Wisconsin A

Scott Hyde

Georgia Tech B

Clemson A

-5

Samarth Prajapati

Georgia Tech E

Tennessee B

Simarya Ahuja

Washington Sockeye

Washington Masu

Mason Evans

Tulsa A

Murray State College B

Virginia Brooks

Minnesota

Wisconsin C

-5

Max Kurzman

UNC D

William & Mary B

Annoshae Mirza

Berkeley Archer Queen

Berkeley Skeleton King

100

-5

Miriam Lee

Queen's A

Toronto I

100

Sarah Silverman

Claremont C

Claremont B

100

Fern Fang

VCU A

UNC C

100

Adriana Kim

Illinois Champaign

Illinois Canada

102

Samarth Majmudar

Illinois Urbana

Illinois Orange

103

Keerthana Krishnan

Texas

Washington Coho

103

Rae Meyers

Arizona State A

Boise State

103

Connor King

St. Thomas

Wisconsin B

104

Trey Lewis

South Carolina A

Auburn C

104

Anjali Rao

Ottawa B

McGill A

104

Alex Wong

Rutgers D

Johns Hopkins

104

Kara Braun

Michigan State B

Kentucky

105

Arlene Lopez

Stony Brook

NYU B

106

Ruby Xia

Arizona State B

British Columbia B

108

Brendan Liaw

British Columbia A

Washington Steelhead

110

Erica Wang

UC Santa Barbara

UCSD B

111

Devito Stevanus

McGill B

Ottawa A

111

-5

Jonathan Ho

Alberta B

British Columbia C

112

Elena Thai

Waterloo C

Brock A

112

-5

Michael Xu

McMaster B

Toronto B

112

Ryan Gomes

Florida Tech A

ERAU Daytona A

115

Asheton Wilbanks

Clemson B

Georgia Tech F

115

Jason Lee

Rutgers A

Rutgers B

116

Karthik Subramanian

Berkeley Boss Bandit

Stanford B

117

-5

Carly Hemani

JMU A

Tusculum A

117

-5

Vedh Ramesh

Penn

Vassar A

117

-5

Juan Landaeta

Florida State A

Florida Tech B

120

Shaynee Ruffle

Toronto G

Waterloo A

120

Claire Wilson

Lehigh B

Vassar B

120

Alex Grigoriades

Lehigh A

Rowan

120

Cassidy McIntyre

Rose State

Nebraska A

125

-5

John Rootham

Ottawa D

McGill C

126

Zeke Collins

Auburn B

Sewanne

126

Hansen Jin

Berkeley Skeleton King

Berkeley Archer Queen

127

Ishan Pachauri

UCLA C

UC Irvine

127

Brian Hobmann

UCLA F

UCLA D

127

Rebecca Li

Ottawa A

McGill B

127

Sai Subramanian

CWRU A

Louisville D

127

Reed Sexton

Michigan C

Michigan A

127

Jackson Hatcher

Nebraska A

Rose State

127

Sage Saperstein

USC B

USC A

127

Serena Salfiti

USC A

USC B

127

Nameer Qadir

Toronto C

Toronto E

127

Mohit Nair

CWRU D

WVU B

127

Venkat Das

WVU B

CWRU D

127

CJ Sershon

Central Oklahoma B

Harding

127

Ben Lanahan

Clemson A

Georgia Tech B

127

Chase Moss

WVU A

Michigan B

127

Connor Kahn

NCSU A

Virginia A

127

Andrew Wu

Columbia A

Columbia B

127

Cooper Morris

Columbia B

Columbia A

127

Rohit Chintala

Maryland B

NYU C

127

Eli Young

Vassar A

Penn

127

Derek Li

Cornell A

Cornell B

127

Will Hoover

RIT A

Binghamton C

127