In the Great Plains of Nebraska, two actresses of a certain age are returning to their dying hometown. Jane’s in from L.A. to check up on her ailing mother, Alma. Andrea’s back from New York to bury her father. In the quiet of the middle of nowhere — and with two local men, Robert and Lance, capturing their attention — the old friends navigate feelings about lost parents, thwarted aspirations and what it means to be successful, putting Jane on a collision course with her homespun mother, Alma. A hope-filled, music-kissed, tears-and-laughter love letter to small towns and big dreams, parents and children, the itch to move away and the ache — and joy — of coming home.

HOLLYWOOD, NEBRASKA is available for licensing through Dramatists Play Service. See link below.

From the Playwright: Unlike my plays TWO HENRYS, ALABAMA STORY, TENNESSEE WILLIAMS DRANK HERE and CIRCA 1976, this one doesn’t have threads of social justice woven into it. It's a sadness-streaked Chekhovian family comedy about show people looking in the mirror and trying to figure out who they are in a time of personal crossroads. One audience member at a talkback asked, "What's at stake for the main character, Jane?" My answer was, "Everything!" An L.A. actress in her forties is often an invisible creature, and Jane is trying to figure out where she fits in the world, professionally, personally, romantically. The past and present collide in her hometown, a place where "dying" things are constantly referenced. It's ultimately a hope-filled play about living — and what it means to live a "creative life."

*

A theatergoer at a reading of the play Off-Broadway billed it as THE RAINMAKER, BROADWAY BOUND & STEEL MAGNOLIAS combined. "I wanna call my mom," she said of the bittersweet comedy about parents and children. That sounds about right to me. It's also sexy and funny and warm. Comfort food that makes you think, to mix a metaphor.