THE STORY: The setting is the small town of Independence, Iowa, the lifelong home of Evelyn Briggs. Her oldest daughter, Kess, is a university professor in Minneapolis, but she has come home at the request of her sister, Jo, who is concerned for Evelyn’s mental health. Kess, a professed lesbian, wants to cut her family ties once and for all; Jo, an incurable romantic and longtime virgin, has now become pregnant; while Sherry, salty-tongued and amoral, wants only to finish high school so she can leave home for good. In the end, there is no accommodation possible but, instead, only a kind of arbitrary independence for each of the protagonists, as they come to realize that each must find her own heaven—or hell—in her own way.
A powerful, disturbing study of a family divided against itself.
“Mr. Blessing writes admirably well timed and weighted dialogue, and the play takes the cleverly invented characters through to a chilling end.” —Plays and Players (UK).
“Blessing has a hair-trigger sensitivity to what families are saying and doing now, this minute…” —Dallas Times Herald.
“…a delicate balance of comic and tragic elements.” —Louisville News American.
