Hope's Arbor
comedy/drama
2 acts
95 minutes
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Winner of the Carol Weinberg Award for Best Play at the 2006 Baltimore Playwrights Festival
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2008 Equity Showcase production in New York by Gallery Players/Engine 37
Hope is 17 and a student at Thwaite Academy. She’s been placed on the fast track to success and wants out. A horrifying act of cruelty drives her to run away from the world she knows, but the idealized world of her online acquaintances proves just as hard to navigate. Hope's struggle to define and assert her identity is a coming - of-age tale for the age of technology.
Characters:
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Hope, late teens
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Jean, 40's
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Peter, 40's
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Chris, 20's
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Caitelynne, late teens
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Saiko, late teens
Reviews:
Baltimore City Paper wrote, “What happens next had the audience laughing and clapping before intermission....it’s the epitome of modern...” Read the full review.
The Baltimore Sun wrote, “writing that’s impressive...breathe(s) drama into the play’s wireless universe.”
Broadway World wrote, “Brilliant, highly effective and alarming... The extremely high quality of the script is testimony to its inclusion in this year’s Baltimore Playwrights Festival, and this nearly perfect presentation of it speaks volumes for Spotlighters’ increasingly consistent, professional quality theatre...don’t miss this one!” Read the full review.
The Baltimore Messenger wrote, “...one of the best entries in this summer’s Baltimore Playwright’s Festival, because Espey skillfully develops the emotional ramifications of being an insecure teen in our technology-driven culture...Espey’s up-to-date sensibility makes the most of the intriguing technological twists...Espey’s taut writing keeps the psychological dynamics flowing.”