Hartford, Or: A Hellish Haven for Exceptionally Strong Quirky Lesbian Sexual Trauma Survivors

It's a way too-early morning on a train platform at Hartford Union Station. We meet Babyface, a young woman who defines herself as "pedophile-bait." This is her story. She is alone until she isn't.

It's a way too-early morning on a train platform at Hartford Union Station. We meet Babyface, a young woman who defines herself as "pedophile-bait." This is her story. She is alone until she isn't.

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Hartford, Or: A Hellish Haven for Exceptionally Strong Quirky Lesbian Sexual Trauma Survivors

Recommended by

  • Shaun Leisher: Hartford, Or: A Hellish Haven for Exceptionally Strong Quirky Lesbian Sexual Trauma Survivors

    Gordon makes it very clear from the beginning exactly what this play is going to be about. This play is very effective at portraying what it is like for women to live in a world that is inherently violent towards them. Direct address works so well here. The way the scene is explored through a variety of angles and options of how it ends was really moving. The playing with genre and tropes was great and brought some levity to a heavy piece. This is not a feel good piece of theatre but it's one people need to sit with.

    Gordon makes it very clear from the beginning exactly what this play is going to be about. This play is very effective at portraying what it is like for women to live in a world that is inherently violent towards them. Direct address works so well here. The way the scene is explored through a variety of angles and options of how it ends was really moving. The playing with genre and tropes was great and brought some levity to a heavy piece. This is not a feel good piece of theatre but it's one people need to sit with.

  • Kyr Siegel: Hartford, Or: A Hellish Haven for Exceptionally Strong Quirky Lesbian Sexual Trauma Survivors

    A thought provoking and beautifully heartbreaking play. I was drawn in from the moment the first line was spoken. Mollie Gordon's words speak to the reader in a touching, intense, and truthful tone. Phenomenal.

    A thought provoking and beautifully heartbreaking play. I was drawn in from the moment the first line was spoken. Mollie Gordon's words speak to the reader in a touching, intense, and truthful tone. Phenomenal.

  • Toby Malone: Hartford, Or: A Hellish Haven for Exceptionally Strong Quirky Lesbian Sexual Trauma Survivors

    Oh, wow. Wow wow wow. This is a double-fisted punch to the gut of a play, one that tells us exactly what it is going to be in its first LINE and then refuses to allow us to look away. Because why should we? Mollie Gordon plays with time, form, and structure to play and then replay and then reformat and then relayer a trauma that we feel the need to scream out to stop happening, but of course that's not the way the world works. It's heartbreaking and visceral and raw and necessary. Stunning work.

    Oh, wow. Wow wow wow. This is a double-fisted punch to the gut of a play, one that tells us exactly what it is going to be in its first LINE and then refuses to allow us to look away. Because why should we? Mollie Gordon plays with time, form, and structure to play and then replay and then reformat and then relayer a trauma that we feel the need to scream out to stop happening, but of course that's not the way the world works. It's heartbreaking and visceral and raw and necessary. Stunning work.

View all 5 recommendations
Babyface: 19, femme-identifying actor of any race/ethnicity, should be a younger actor or an actor who looks young
Brown-Eyed Femme: mid-to-late 20s, femme-identifying actor of any race/ethnicity, preferably cast close to the specified age
Missing Tooth Man: late 40s/early 50s, preferably a cis white male actor, preferably cast close to the specified age
*Note: Babyface's and Brown-Eyed Femme's pronouns can be adjusted in the script if desired by the actors and director.

Development History

  • Type Reading, Organization The Bechdel Group, Year 2020