This weekend I was fortunate enough to sneak away from snowy Pittsburgh and visit my undergrad, St. Mary's College of Maryland. While clearly part of the trip was to recharge and take a mini vacation before the final 4 weeks of classes commence, the main motivation for this particular destination was to see their currently running production of Mother Hicks directed by Faculty member Holly A. Blumner. As an alum of their theatre program, I make every effort to see as many of their mainstage productions as my schedule allows in hopes my moral support will keep the Alumni Office from calling and begging for money. So far my plan hasn't succeeded.
Mother Hicks is another example of a play that tries to interweave stories and then falls pretty flat in the end. Set in a rural community during the Great Depression in the 1930s, the play deals primarily with the title character Mother Hicks, a deaf and mute boy named Tuc, and an orphan conveniently named Girl. It's a classic plot of 'blame-the-witch', where the townspeople blame any strange happenings or unexplained events on witchcraft, with this play's target being Mother Hicks, a typical dark and mysterious woman who lives up in the mountain alone. The more interesting plots involve Tuc and Girl as Girl tries to figure out who her mother is and where she came from. Tuc, in true theatrical convention, is often the voice of reason as those that refuse to try and communicate with him are the most misfortuned characters of the lot. Sadly, the playwright spends what I would argue is too much time developing the witch-hunt, and only skims the surface of Tuc and Girl's stories.
Despite the dramaturgical shortcomings (and plot holes that make Pittsburgh pot holes look like dimples), Holly did an excellent job of creating a unified vision with an ensemble cast. Impressively, the entire cast learned a simplified version of American Sign Language and much of the show was signed. Tuc can only speak through sign, so during portions of the play where he steps in as a narrator, the entire ensemble would sign with him as his words were vocally interpreted by another cast member. This would be an impressive undertaking even for a professional cast, so I must give them credit. Set on a very simple stage composed mainly of a modified 3/4 trust raised deck, scenes were quickly represented with a single object or piece of furniture, which was an excellent choice given the lofty ideas trying to be tackled in the play. An equally simple lighting and costume design kept in congruence with this staging. In defense of the designers, often designing something that looks simple in extremely complicated, so my comments are not meant to degrade their work.
A student asked me after the show, "So what do you really think?", knowing I'm hesitant to talk about a production in the lobby afterwards since you never know who might be listening. The star's mother is always standing right behind you hanging on to your every word, regardless of the situation. Well, what I really think is the ensemble did a good job with what I find a less-than-good play. My biggest issue with the script is its eco-drama assertions that come at the 11th hour and barely get off the deck.
Tuc and Girl reveal that Mother Hicks is earth, fire, water, blood...everything. This, to me, is a pretty blunt reference to Mother Nature, yes? The townspeople blame things on Mother Hicks, treat her poorly, and refuse to accept her healing capabilities. As Mother Hicks recounts, "they all leave once they're healed", referencing our disassociation and even shunning of nature until we need it for something. Our lack of understanding of our environment is no reason not to respect and embrace it's power. In fact, there is a very real danger of trying to obtain the power of Mother Nature and being blissfully ignorant of how little control you actually have. In a play centering on the origin and formation of identity/history and the necessity of community, these 'natural' references do have their place and I feel were highly underutilized by the writer. Otherwise, Mother Hicks really is just a witch they say.
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