In-theater at Portland Stage, in Portland, Maine
September 29 – October 17, 2021
Digital On-Demand
October 13 – October 31, 2021
In the fictional town of Hillcroft Maine, a 20th century African American schoolteacher is determined to elevate her students. One hundred years later, in the same place, a white teacher is running for office. As the two stories intertwine, ownership of history takes center stage.
About the playwright
Callie Kimball (Playwright) earned her MFA under Tina Howe at Hunter College, where she won the Rita & Burton Goldberg Playwriting Award two years in a row. Her plays have been produced and developed in New York, Chicago, LA, Boston, and DC, at the Kennedy Center, MCC Theater, Lark Play Development Center, Portland Stage Company, Rep Stage, Ashland New Plays Festival, The Drama League, Echo Theatre, The Brick Theater, Dramatic Rep, Mad Horse Theatre, Project Y Theatre, Team Awesome Robot, Washington Shakespeare Company, Halcyon Theatre, Florida Studio Theatre, Greater Boston Stage Company, Everyman Repertory Theatre, Absolute Theatre, and many colleges and festivals across the country. She’s an Affiliate Artist at Portland Stage Company, an Affiliate Writer at the Playwrights’ Center, Playwright-in-Residence at Theater at Monmouth, and a former MacDowell Fellow. She won a Ludwig Vogelstein grant to research her play Sofonisba, which won Portland Stage’s Clauder Gold Prize, was a finalist for the O’Neill, a semifinalist for the Princess Grace Award, and was included on The Kilroys’ 2016 List. Her themes range from historical dramas and classical adaptations to socio-political comedies and futuristic dystopias. Many of her plays feature characters balanced at the intersection of language and power, who struggle to break free from societal assumptions around gender, class, and race.
