Book of Hours

by Jessica Fechtor

Hunting. Taxidermy. Illness. Intimacy. Magical thinking and unloaded guns. Book of Hours is a play about our varying responses to the universal condition of mortality, and how we contain and bear witness to the people we love.

Hunting. Taxidermy. Illness. Intimacy. Magical thinking and unloaded guns. Book of Hours is a play about our varying responses to the universal condition of mortality, and how we contain and bear witness to the people we love.

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Book of Hours

Recommended by

  • Rachael Carnes: Book of Hours

    A familiar VRBO-like mountain cabin belies a mysterious string of connections, in this resonant meditation on loss, and living across the ages. Fechtor deftly picks up intertwining narrative threads, twisting each one into an inevitably strong and unbroken cord. There's a common ground that Fechtor creates here, between an easy vernacular, and Medieval wonder, a knowing/unknowing that develops the way a darkened space fills with candlelight, as our eyes adjust. A dream on death, loss, grief, and living with life itself. I'm grateful to have heard a reading of the play at the Great Plains...

    A familiar VRBO-like mountain cabin belies a mysterious string of connections, in this resonant meditation on loss, and living across the ages. Fechtor deftly picks up intertwining narrative threads, twisting each one into an inevitably strong and unbroken cord. There's a common ground that Fechtor creates here, between an easy vernacular, and Medieval wonder, a knowing/unknowing that develops the way a darkened space fills with candlelight, as our eyes adjust. A dream on death, loss, grief, and living with life itself. I'm grateful to have heard a reading of the play at the Great Plains Theatre Conference. Brava.

Character Information

3F, 1M

Plus one answering message recorded by a 70+ woman.
  • Gabe
    Early 30s. First-generation Ghanaian American. Boston private school to Princeton undergrad to Princeton PhD. Married to Elise.
    Character Age
    30s
  • Elise
    Early 30s. Jewish on her father's side. Working class Philly to Wharton. Married to Gabe.
    Character Age
    30s
  • Francine
    Early 70s. Pragmatic. And magic is a fact. Unsmiling except for when she's not.
    Character Age
    70s
  • Lois
    70s. Warm and wily hunter who wills the way
    Character Age
    70s

Development History

  • Type Reading, Organization The Great Plains Theatre Commons, Year 2021
  • Type Workshop, Organization The Ground Floor at Berkeley Rep, Year 2019