by Tina Howe

Directed by Ed Cohen

The play is about Mabel Tidings Bigelow, who at 90 insists on celebrating her daughter and granddaughter's annual visit with an archaic croquet party. Mabel, in her youth, swam the English Channel (from England to France, the harder way). As the drama unfolds, Mabel relives a series of "ordinary" moments of her past in vignettes, subtly weaving past and present into a tapestry that reveals the opportunities lost that define her life. A vibrant portrait of Mabel takes shape: her flashes of wit and humor, resilience, disappointments, youthful spunk and geriatric willfulness. Howe has always been a graceful playwright, adept at dialogue and capable of finding the drama in even the most mundane moments. But rarely has her previous work exhibited the emotional depth and power she displays in Pride's Crossing. Howe moves her characters back and forth in time with consummate skill and fluidity. A chance remark, a laugh, a dress, a hat, a croquet mallet are the small things that trigger memories of pivotal events. Very loosely based on Ms. Howe's aunt, this play is a tribute to a generation of women who spent their lives giving up their dreams and ambitions to satisfy social mores and traditions. It is a play about moments of great triumph and decades of small regrets.