The Curious Savage is a warmhearted comedy by John Patrick about a wealthy, eccentric widow whose greedy stepchildren have her committed to a sanitarium called The Cloisters in a bid to get their hands on the fortune she has inherited and refuses to hand over. Inside the institution, she finds herself surrounded not by the dangerous lunatics her stepchildren imagine but by a gentle, endearing group of fellow patients, each harboring their own gentle delusions and quirks, who become her true friends and allies. As her stepchildren scheme and connive to locate the hidden fortune, she and her new companions outwit them with wit, compassion, and a shared sense of whimsical justice. The play draws a warm contrast between the outwardly sane but morally bankrupt stepchildren and the outwardly "mad" patients whose kindness and honesty prove far saner. Its gentle humor and affirming message about true wealth being found in kindness rather than money made it a long-running favorite of community and school theater.

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