Hickorydickory: From the Director

Time. Time is cherished; the lack of time is precious.

What would you do if you, a friend, or a family member, knew exactly how much time they had left to live? That’s the question the five characters in Hickorydickory have to answer for themselves.

When this play was first presented to me, I do what I normally do, sit at the kitchen table with an oversized cup of coffee, reggae music in the background, and delve in. Sometimes I have to force myself to finish a script. Sometimes a script will speak to me so strongly that I’m am transported to that world with those characters. Hickorydickory was the latter. I could not stop reading Marisa Wegrzyn’s heartfelt, magical and inventive comedy. I could see and hear each character and wanted to learn more about Cari Lee, Jimmy, Kate, Dale and Rowan. I then journeyed back 18 years to understand Richard, Helen, Young Jimmy, Young Kate and experience Cari Lee all over again. I was astonished by the playwright’s use of dialogue, mystery and fantasy to tell a story that is thought-provoking, captivating, relatable and delightfully imaginative.

I did not hesitate to say yes when I was asked to direct this show for Dragon Theatre Production Company. It’s rare to experience a piece of work where, just on paper alone I could see the humor, the thoughtfulness, the supernatural, the nostalgia. Then entering the rehearsal process with five remarkably talented actors whose timing and skillfulness caused us to laugh out loud, showed vulnerability, and made us reminiscence.

Travel with us to 1992, and 1974. Open your mind and your heart to experience the real, and the unreal. I hope your engagement with this play is as entertaining, amusing, and moving as it has been for us to create it for you. 

Kimberly Ridgeway

Director