Mother Hicks

Play script. An evocative story of three outsiders, richly realized through all of the resources of theatre, including poetry, character, and story. Various locations in and around Ware, Illinois, in the late spring of 1935. (THE TASTE OF SUNRISE by Suzan L. Zeder is the prequel to this play.) CAST: 4 men, 4 women (minimum) who create 10 roles.

Set in southern Illinois, during the great Depression, this play is about three outsiders - - a foundling girl known only as Girl; a deaf boy, eloquent in the language of his silence; and an eccentric recluse, Mother Hicks, who is suspected of being a witch. The tale, told with poetry and sign language, chronicles the journeys of these three to find themselves, and each other, in a troubled time. Provocative productions through North America have revealed the power and appeal of this play.