The Question House

Produced by Breadbasket Productions

The Question House is the story of a little consulting firm with a big secret: the people who work there must speak only in questions or risk being struck dead by the hand of God. Or, at least, that's what owner and operator Harvey Krytz and his loyal secretary Margaret want everyone to think. Is Krytz crazy? What will happen if someone ends a sentence with a period? Audiences should prepare to laugh and squirm as they're sucked into a world in which the stakes are alarmingly high every time any character opens his mouth.

The Question House is the perfect farce for today's economic climate. It's about a boss who can't quite reconcile some unorthodox business practices with Jewish law (à la Bernie Madoff?), a secretary trying desperately to limit the damage, an agent of the law who doesn't know which end is up, and underlings who will do just about anything to hang onto a job. With the recession in full swing out there, getting to know the employees of The Question House may just make you feel a little better about your own job…or see the upside of unemployment.

I wrote The Question House when I was a college student, apparently filled with anxiety about what the corporate world might hold in store for me after graduation. Now, almost 10 years later, with corporate budgets being slashed right and left, anxiety about employment is a lot more commonplace. It may be a bad time to be a consultant, but it's a great time to revive this play. I am very glad that Catherine Siracusa and the members of the HB ensemble — especially Cam Kornman, who hung onto this script for eight years, waiting for a full production — were up for doing exactly that.

Tara Dairman, playwright

Freedom 85!

Produced by Hi-D Theatre

Author: Debra Hale

Freedom 85 was inspired by the late Sybil Collins, a very funny and spirited woman who served in World War II in Britain.  She moved to a retirement home and told me "I didn’t expect it to end like this."  In our play, this poignant situation becomes humorous too as she "breaks out" with the help of an alcoholic waitress. Another actress and I create a community of small town characters in Sybil's life both now and during wartime.  Expect to laugh and be moved as the two central characters find out how much they need each other.  Audiences have told us that our show has a big heart.

Seniors are moving into retirement homes in huge numbers.  How are they coping?  Do we still value their input and seek their connection to our communities and families?  Do we still need them? Judging from the response to the premiere of Freedom 85, we do!

I wrote the show as an acting challenge and it became anchored in the story of this wonderful woman who I still miss everyday. What fun for two actresses to play old men, young British Gals, a Jamaican Cook and a menacing biker, just to mention a few.  To me this is an exciting form of storytelling and theatrical magic that keeps an audience engaged and entertained.

Debra Hale, writer/actress