TROUBLE (at the Vista View Mobile Home Estates)

by Audrey Cefaly

​A new all-female drama from southern playwright Audrey Cefaly.

TROUBLE, set in the (fictional) mill town of Litman, Alabama, centers on the fraught relationship between an ex-mill worker and her disillusioned mother. The play opens on the eve of Euba’s "unwanted" birthday party, which her mother Bernie (against Euba's express wishes) is intent on hosting, Also in the mix are mill workers Lila (8 months...

​A new all-female drama from southern playwright Audrey Cefaly.

TROUBLE, set in the (fictional) mill town of Litman, Alabama, centers on the fraught relationship between an ex-mill worker and her disillusioned mother. The play opens on the eve of Euba’s "unwanted" birthday party, which her mother Bernie (against Euba's express wishes) is intent on hosting, Also in the mix are mill workers Lila (8 months pregnant) and Fin (Euba's best friend), along with YoYo, a local security officer. As the birthday hour approaches, Euba is visited by a raven, sending her spiraling in search for answers to the untimely death of her father. The play attempts to explore, without condescension, the tattered daydreams of working-class women in the deep south, traversing the landscape of mental illness, addiction, and the trials and tribulations of motherhood.

TROUBLE is the 4th installment in regionalist Audrey Cefaly's Alabama Cycle (The Gulf, Alabaster, Maytag Virgin), an exploration of the unsung voices, stories, and topographies of working-class people in the Gulf Coast region.

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TROUBLE (at the Vista View Mobile Home Estates)

Recommended by

  • Jason Parrish: TROUBLE (at the Vista View Mobile Home Estates)

    Audrey Cefaly never disappoints. Strong Southern women, heartache, catharsis, magical realism, and some great laughs all in one place. Florida Rep showcased this play as part of its 2023 PlayLab, and the reading of an early draft left audiences in awe of how Cefaly tells a story with rich, deep, human (and not human) characters. Read it; it's worth the "trouble."

    Audrey Cefaly never disappoints. Strong Southern women, heartache, catharsis, magical realism, and some great laughs all in one place. Florida Rep showcased this play as part of its 2023 PlayLab, and the reading of an early draft left audiences in awe of how Cefaly tells a story with rich, deep, human (and not human) characters. Read it; it's worth the "trouble."

  • Kitchen Dog Theater: TROUBLE (at the Vista View Mobile Home Estates)

    We are pleased to support this play! It was a Finalist for the 2023 New Works Festival at Kitchen Dog Theater in Dallas, Texas.

    We are pleased to support this play! It was a Finalist for the 2023 New Works Festival at Kitchen Dog Theater in Dallas, Texas.

  • David Beardsley: TROUBLE (at the Vista View Mobile Home Estates)

    This play is laugh-out-loud funny in so many places, but Cefaly brilliantly resists the tidy ending so common with comedies. There are no neatly tied bows here—even when the play seems poised to head in that direction. It’s messy, and funny, and poignant, and painful, and honest all the way through. A less sophisticated storyteller might have tried to save Euba in the end, or at least to soften her—to make her “see the light.” However, that would have discredited so much that came before. This kind of pain doesn’t resolve so easily.

    This play is laugh-out-loud funny in so many places, but Cefaly brilliantly resists the tidy ending so common with comedies. There are no neatly tied bows here—even when the play seems poised to head in that direction. It’s messy, and funny, and poignant, and painful, and honest all the way through. A less sophisticated storyteller might have tried to save Euba in the end, or at least to soften her—to make her “see the light.” However, that would have discredited so much that came before. This kind of pain doesn’t resolve so easily.

View all 6 recommendations

Development History

  • Type Workshop, Organization Barter Theatre (Appalachian New Play Fest), Year 2023
  • Type Workshop, Organization Signature Theater (Sigworks), Year 2023
  • Type Workshop, Organization Alabama Shakespeare Festival (Southern Writers Festival), Year 2022

Awards