synopsis

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Hiccup and a Wink, set in Chattanooga, TN in the summer of 1984, gives new meaning to the phrase “dysfunctional relationship” when an abused teenage girl, seeking her birth mother, descends on a trailer trash couple whose lives are already a living hell. The play explores co-dependency between a glue-sniffing, over-the-hill manicurist and her alcoholic, PTS-afflicted Vietnam-vet husband  and how they deal with this unexpected intrusion.

The play also serves as a vehicle to examine adoption, domestic violence, child abuse and the ever-present “elephant in the room” -- paternity. Because the characters are complex and none totally virtuous, truth-telling (or lying as the case may be) informs much of the action and leads to a surprising and disturbing ending. [2M, 2F; unit set]