THE STORY: Living with her over protective older sister Mattie, Catherine (Cat) is increasingly impatient to know more of the world beyond their small Kentucky town. And she is oddly stirred by the strange young man who stands silently by the street lamp before their house, gazing up at her window. Eventually the young man, Blaise, strikes up a conversation, revealing that while he is now a bag boy at the local supermarket, he has ambitions far beyond his present occupation—ambitions that will soon make him someone other than “the person he once was.” Jealous and fearful, and sensing that Blaise may not be all he claims to be, Mattie warns Cat against Blaise, leading to a confrontation that stirs up long-standing enmities between the two sisters. But, as the play reaches its quiet, gently moving conclusion, it is love that ultimately triumphs—the realization by Mattie and Cat of the strong ties that will always bind them; and, for Cat, the promise of a new and different kind of love to enrich her life and fulfill her longings.
Widely noted in its production by the Actors Theatre of Louisville, as part of the 1984 Shorts Festival, this haunting, lyrically evocative play tells the story of a shy young girl who is suffocating in the care of her older sister, and the strange, intense young man who offers her the hope of romance—and escape.
