Plays

A death in the family. Patrick dies and his three sisters gather at their parents' home in Normandy. Anne, the oldest, is steady, married with two children, showing little emotion. Isabelle, who's cut herself off from her family for eight years, returns from Paris. Claude, Patrick's twin and still a student, grieves for her other half. Along with their parents, each must face family grievances first before they can grieve together for Patrick. Then comes the revelation of how he died, and new feelings come to the fore. Can a death help a family to heal, coax an aging mother back to sanity, bring a couple into each other's arms, and enable two sisters to grow?

John Gibbs, a former dock worker, becomes a successful stock broker. Through his friends Donald Valentine and Elsie Chandler, he meets Marie Van Dusen. When the Van Dusens lose their money, Marie's mother advises her to marry Gibbs to save the family. Marie does not love Gibbs, but consents to the marriage to please her mother. Gibbs learns that Marie has been out with Valentine for an evening, with his wife being insulted by Valentine. Learning that Valentine's money is tied up in stocks, Gibbs decides to break him. He forces the stocks down and ruins Valentine, but in the process, loses his own fortune. Marie now realizes that she does love Gibbs and stays with him.

Caldwell's pulp storytelling, proto-feminist stance and unabashed social dramatization of his characters are a distinct vision of the condition of women -- specifically working class women. His broadly drawn themes of small town hypocrisy and restrictive moral values contextualize the titular characters' struggle for sexual expression, stability and independence. Certain Women is a disconcerting parable that pays tribute to but also defies the 50s period style of Caldwell, opting for contemporary small town situations and cinematic style. This cautionary tale of four heroic yet ordinary women is fashioned out of the past but relies on observations of the present historical moment and its political reality.

Sky Baker, the only openly gay student, sees his prom plans derailed after a homophobic e-blast goes viral. He considers leaving town, classmates rally around him in a story of finding support in a chosen family.

Siblings, it is said, are the only people we truly spend our entire lives with. Perhaps that longevity explains the unique and edgy dynamic that brothers and sisters carry through their relationships. In Asteroid, siblings Mauricio and Cristina were part of a tragic as teenagers, and they have been struggling ever since. Now adults, Mauricio is still living in the childhood home where they grew up, proudly holding on to the hard-fought, twin successes of having both a girlfriend and stability as a sober recovering alcoholic. Then Cristina shows up, absent after seven years, fleeing her latest flame-out in Madrid. Her emotional instability brings disastrous consequences for both of them, leading to think that some people should simply never get back together.