Synopsis
THE DRIFTS LIVE: the novel onstage is 60 mins of theatricalized excerpts (a hybrid of literary story theatre & performance art) from the novel, The Drifts (Coachhouse Books, 2010).
Night is falling, and so is the snow. As a blizzard buries the ground, it uncovers the resentments, hopes and aches of a small town in northeastern Arkansas.
Julie finds herself, at forty-six, unexpectedly expectant. She can’t stand the thought of being a mother again. And her husband, Charlie, won’t come home to talk about it. Charlie wants another kid—he wants to do it right this time, but he doesn’t know how to deal with Julie. His affair with his best friend, Wilson, is probably over, but he’s found a new and unusual kind of intimacy—with a calf. Wilson works in the Singer factory. She’s not in love with Charlie, not really—it’s Dol she wants. Dol is a transgender divorced father of two who can’t afford the transition that would make his body make sense.
Their four stories—and voices—converge into one violent chord, as cold and harrowing as the blizzard.
- photo by Dixie Sheridan
photo by Dixie Sheridan