THE STORY: Adapted from the bestselling novel by Dorothy Allison, CAVEDWELLER follows Delia Byrd, the forty-year-old lead singer of the group Mud Dog whose rock-star boyfriend has just died in an accident, as she decides to leave Los Angeles and return home to rural Georgia with her teenage daughter, Cissy, in tow. Back in Georgia is the ex-husband, now dying of cancer, and the two daughters, Dede and Amanda, that Delia abandoned fourteen years ago. Dede, who seems most like her mother, is the wild and rebellious one, fast on the road to becoming an alcoholic and the town tramp. Amanda, in contrast, has sublimated her anger into becoming a sanctimonious, Bible– thumping fundamentalist. To rebuild a family from the ruins she left behind, Delia has her work cut out for her, but in those ruins and in that work lies the promise of her redemption.
“…full of lionhearted female characters…and focused on the morally unassailable theme of the redemptive power of love.” —The New York Times.
“…engrossing and even piercing.” —The New Yorker.
“…an uplifting message of redemption and renewal.” —New York Daily News.
“These are characters worth getting to know.” —Variety.
“…authentic and honest…” —NYTheatre.
