‘Mother Hicks’ opens at Piedmont College Nov. 15

11.09.2012

The Piedmont College Theatre Department will present “Mother Hicks,” a tale of three outsiders during the Great Depression, in the Blackbox Theater of the Swanson Center for Performing Arts and Communications in Demorest.

Performances are set for 7:30 p.m., Nov. 15-17; and 2 p.m., Sunday, Nov. 18. General admission tickets are $5. Piedmont College faculty, staff, and students are admitted free. Saturday evening’s performance will be interpreted for the hearing impaired, with a talk-back for the audience to follow. To reserve tickets, call the Theatre Box Office at 706-778-8500 extension 1355.

Set in the year 1935, “Mother Hicks” takes place in the town of Ware, Ill., in the heat of the Great Depression. There we meet three people living on the outskirts of society: a young deaf man, an orphan girl known by the townsfolk simply as “Girl,” and a mysterious older woman who lives all alone on a hill outside of town. Times are hard for the entire town, but especially for Girl, who with no family of her own, moves from household to household, until, following clues and whisperings of her heart, she encounters the eccentric Mother Hicks. The townspeople are afraid for Girl: Mother Hicks—or so they say—is a witch.  But is she really? A haunting tale told through sign-language and poetry, “Mother Hicks” recounts the difficult journey we all make in life—the journey to discover who we are on the inside and where we really belong. The play marks the directorial debut for the Department of Theatre’s newest faculty member, Kathy Blandin.

Mother Hicks” author Suzan Zeder is one of the most popular playwrights for young audiences in contemporary theatre, able to create compelling child characters that actively grapple with the most difficult problems faced by children in our culture. Zeder teaches playwriting at the University of Texas at Austin and is a four-time winner of the American Alliance of Theatre and Education’s Distinguished Play Award.