August Snow

Set in a small town in North Carolina, August Snow is the first play of Reynolds Price's trilogy New Music, which chronicles the ups and downs of a 37-year marriage. As the play begins, we see Taw, a bride of only a year, sleeping next to her brand-new marriage bed. Her husband, Neal, is hung-over after another night out with his best friend, Porter. After a year, the marriage is “on the rocks” and Taw has reached her limit. She gives Neal an ultimatum and one day to decide whether or not he wants to make this marriage work.

Reynolds Price's language is a wonderful and vivid poetry of everyday modern speech and each character in August Snow is a complex and fully developed human being. The play is both heart wrenching and heart-warming, and is a remarkable exploration of how the theatre can make magic out of the most ordinary slices of life.