MISSING CELIA ROSE

FINALIST - 2020 THOMAS WOLFE INTERNATIONAL PLAYWRITING PRIZE

1921, Georgia. The small town of Harlan was established fifty years before on the heels of the uncertain and unforgiving Reconstructionist era. Pulling together all they had, former white slave owners and newly freed slaves set aside their predjudices and their pasts to create a new community—one where race is the least of their problems. On a bleak Autumn evening, a young white boy named Geoffrey Pitts discovers that the beloved wife of the black Baptist Minister, Mrs. Celia Rose Richards, has stolen the only car in town and vanished without a trace. His parents, his teacher, the townsfolk—no one knows any specifics concerning this mysterious flight. With the aid of his friend and confidante, Taffy Prull, Geoffrey decides to find Celia Rose and uncover the truth about her disappearance. But in doing so, Geoffrey uncovers secrets of the town that will change Harlan forever. Missing Celia Rose is an examination of the limits of faith, the limits of love, and the limits of tolerance in the unforgiving world of a decimated South.

CAST: 7W / 3M

RUN TIME: 100 Minutes.

“I think Ian August’s elegant, elegiac script has “potential future classic” written all over it. I wouldn’t want to reveal the plots secrets, but suffice to say the author has a Faulkner-esque grasp of the poetry and pathos of the southern gothic. The show is a bit like if Tennessee Williams wrote Our Town. And I mean that in a good way.”

— Orlando Weekly

Photographs from the 2009 workshop of MISSING CELIA ROSE with Orlando Shakespeare Theatre’s PlayFest Harriet Lake Festival of New Plays. Directed by John DiDonna. Featuring David Knoell, Elizabeth June, Dennis Neal, Rus Blackwell, Laurel Clark, Avis-Marie Barnes, Trenell Mooring, Robin Olson. Produced by Patrick Flick, Artistic Director Jim Helsinger.

“This play’s strengths lie in its intricate, poetic language. Missing Celia Rose is a masterpiece.”

— Bermuda Sun