By the time that Lillian Hellman wrote The Autumn Garden in 1951 she was in her mid-forties, long-divorced but still in the midst of the sporadic relationship that caused it, an affair with the author Dashiell Hammett -- the writer who perfected the art of detective-stories-as-social-commentary with The Maltese Falcon.
There is more than a bit of Hammett in the character of Nick Denery, a haphazard artist who comes back from Europe to haunt the world of his ex-lover Constance Tuckerman. The story is set in a Gulf Coast resort town shortly after the end of the Second World War. Constance eagerly awaits the arrival of visitors, chiefly Mr. Denery, now married but to whom she was once engaged. Denery's entourage includes his wife Nina, with whom he is less than happily-married and a German au pair named Hilda. With Constance is Sophie, her young French niece who Constance managed to rescue from war-ravaged France. Denery proves himself to be a human wrecking ball, causing misery to everyone around him but seeming to care little about it. Once upon a time Nick painted a beautiful portrait of Constance as a young woman; now he wishes to capture her aging process on canvas. In a drunken stupor he brings an undeserved scandal upon Sophie, who contemplates the use of that incident to escape from a life with which she is clearly unhappy. In the midst of the turmoil caused by Denery, everyone is forced to re-evaluate the disorder in their own lives.
Scenic Design: Tom BUDERWITZ
Lights: John ECKERT
Stage Manager: Ritz GRAY
Props Design: Jen PRINCE
Costumes: Tina Haatanian JONES
Sound: John ZALEWSKI
Producer: Young JI
w
Rose
Mrs. Ellis
General Griggs
Crossman
Frederick
Carrie Ellis
Sophie
Leona
Constance
Nick
Nina
Hilda Rhonda ALDRICH / Faye GRANT
Anne Gee BYRD / Dawn DIDAWICK
Kurtwood SMITH / James SUTORIUS
Josh CLARK / Stoney WESTMORELAND
Joe DELAFIELD / Josh ZUCKERMAN
Eve GORDON / Jeanie HACKETT
Zoe PERRY / Jeanne SYQUIA
Saundra McCLAIN
Shannon HOLT / Lily KNIGHT
Stephen CAFFREY / Jeffrey NORDLING
Jane KACZMAREK / Kitty SWINK
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