Hurricane Kate
Hurricane Kate is set along the Gulf Coast in 1994. The show explores generational trauma, suicide, and the constant search for belonging, with the most dysfunctional kind of family. Tinka doesn’t want to be here. After the fight she and her mother Kate had a couple Christmases ago, she swore that she would only come back to her family home to haunt the place. However, one of the many hurricanes to hit the Gulf Coast every year has come and taken her mother with it. Her three estranged siblings are here too. Ellen, the eldest, is struggling to stay calm and rational as she assumes her new role as parent and peacemaker. The itinerate Stuart has gotten by on charm, good looks and the occasional musical gig all of his adult life but is now trying to reform himself by the grace of God… again. Youngest Grace is fighting to live up to her name. She had the closest connection to their mother and saw the signs of the end approaching. Then there is Cowboy Bob, Kate’s fifth (and final) husband who is a ball of emotion which he is surprisingly in touch with. As a whirlwind of grief and generational trauma blows around them, this fractured family must figure out the future and reconcile the past. About 75-80 min.
NOTE: The script has adult language.
Productions
Behind The Scenes
With Scott Golden
What inspired you to write this play?
My Grandmother always used to talk about the big storms; Camille, Betsy, The Labor Day hurricane in '35. Growing up on the Gulf Coast, they were just part of life. The big one for her however, her "sacred storm", was Hurricane Kate. She and grandad were living in a big, old house in Apalachicola right along the intracoastal waterway. I don't remember much about their home apart from pictures but I do remember the great, old oak tree in the front yard. That was my climbing tree. It was covered with Spanish moss and green moss and a million little ants and bugs that thrilled my six-year old brain. It was so old and timeless that it probably could have been seen from the deck of Ponce de Leon's ship as his crew sailed to "discover" the coastline of America.
In '85, when Hurricane Kate blew in, it was gone. Kate was a late storm; not many category 3 hurricanes would hit the coast that far into November. But the weather, I am told, was warmer that year and it drove the winds on shore even as the air tried to cool before Thanksgiving. And just like that the tree was gone. And the porch. Luckily it spared the house, but that was enough. Grandmother and Grandad packed up everything and moved inland; moved 200 miles away. When you are six years old, 200 miles is an ocean.
I started writing this show back in 2018. It was just a nugget of an idea about pain, loss, and the memories we have of the people we love. We had just solemnized the 10-year anniversary of my Mom's sudden passing and I was reckoning with the memories I had of her. While we were reminiscing on all the fun we had and the good times we shared, we held on to the hard times too. The times that shaped us. The things that made us a family. The storms. Somehow we made it through. So this is a memory play for me. Some of it is real, some of it is just a shadow of things that might have been real. Like an old tree, seen in the fog, by a passing ship.
What's your favorite part or line in the play? Why?
I think the sentiment that sticks with me the most is Cowboy Bob's pointed line, "Grief is just love that ain't got no place to go." It's about making space, not only for your own feelings, but also space for people that you love.
Where did the characters come from? Are they based on people you know?
The play deals a lot with identity and one of the first identifying markers a child has is the name that they are given. Obviously a given name does not create the person or personality but when someone tells me their name is "Frank," I immediately conjure the image of my piano playing, hard-living uncle in my brain. I then automatically try to put that person in the same box as him, as if the name itself creates the similar attributes in people. Every character in this play is named after a relative of mine, and, while these characters are not directly based on those exact people, I do pull bits and pieces from those "name boxes."
Do you have anything else you'd like to add?
If you or someone you know is experiencing suicidal thoughts or a crisis, please reach out immediately to the Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 or dial 988 for help.