NORA'S DAUGHTER

by Carol Lashof

It’s the late 1970s. Emmy Helmer is a teenager, living in Berkeley, California with her father and her two brothers. Her mother left the family when Emmy was three. Now Emmy has been assigned to read A Doll’s House in her high school English class and she comes to a realization: she is Nora’s daughter, Ibsen’s Nora, left behind in the middle of a life, trying to figure out what to do, how to live, how to become...

It’s the late 1970s. Emmy Helmer is a teenager, living in Berkeley, California with her father and her two brothers. Her mother left the family when Emmy was three. Now Emmy has been assigned to read A Doll’s House in her high school English class and she comes to a realization: she is Nora’s daughter, Ibsen’s Nora, left behind in the middle of a life, trying to figure out what to do, how to live, how to become a full human being. Flash forward to the 1990s: Emmy is an aspiring theater director. In spite of her Yale Drama School degree, her career is stalled. She and her husband are expecting their second child. He’s supporting the family and is always at the hospital. She’s always facing a child-care crisis. And then the big job offer comes to direct a mainstage production at The Rep. It’s A Doll’s House.

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NORA'S DAUGHTER

Character Information

EMMY HELMER RILEY, female, seventeen to early thirties
DONNA WILKINS, female, seventeen to early thirties
CHRIS RILEY, male, twenty to early thirties
TEACHER/"NORA," female, twenties or thirties
COUNSELOR/TORVALD/"HELMER," male, mid-thirties to early fifties

All roles may be played by actors of any race or ethnicity.
  • Chris
    Emmy's husband. He's a recent MD doing his internship at a San Francisco hospital. Always exhausted.
    20-30s
    Any
    Male
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      20s,
      30s
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Male
  • Torvald
    Torvald is Emmy's father in 1970s Berkeley. He is also Torvald Helmer, the character from Ibsen's A Doll's House. The actor also plays the role of a high school counselor in 1970s Berkeley.
    30s-50s
    Any
    Male
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      30s,
      40s,
      50s
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Male,
      Non-binary
  • Nora
    She is Nora Helmer of Ibsen's play A Doll's House. She also plays an actor playing Nora and a high school teacher in 1970s Berkeley.
    early 30s
    Any
    Female
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      20s,
      30s
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Female
  • Emmy Helmer
    Emmy is the daughter of Ibsen's heroine, Nora. She is a teenager at the height of second-wave feminism and an early-career theater director in the early 1990s.
    teens-30s
    Any
    Female
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      20s,
      30s
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Female
  • Donna
    Emmy's best friend from high school. Like Emmy, she struggles to pursue a career in the arts and make a living.
    teens-30s
    Any
    Female
    Can be played by:
    • Actor Age
      20s,
      30s
    • Actor Gender Identity
      Female,
      Non-binary

Production History

  • Professional, Theater Artists of Marin, 1994