Picnic - March 2012

By William Inge

The play takes place on Labor day Weekend in the joint backyards of two middle-aged widows. The one house belongs to Flo Owens, who lives there with her two maturing daughters, Madge and Millie, and a boarder who is a spinster school teacher. The other house belongs to Helen Potts, who lives with her elderly and invalid mother. Into this female atmosphere comes a young man named Hal Carter, whose animal vitality seriously upsets the entire group. Hal is a most interesting character, a child of parents who ignored him, self-conscious of his failings and his position behind the eight ball. Flo is sensitively wary of temptations for her daughters. Madge, bored with being only a beauty, sacrifices her chances for a wealthy marriage for the excitement Hal promises. Her sister, Millie, finds her balance for the first time through the stranger's brief attention. And the spinster is stirred to make an issue out of the dangling courtship that has brightened her life in a dreary, minor way.

Cast of Characters:
Luke Mizer as Hal Carter
Emma Cranston as Madge Owens
Lucy Cranston as Millie Owens
Anne Matthews as Flo Owens
Mary Rynders as Rosemary Sydney
Matt Wiemeri as Alan Seymour
Heidi Salter as Helen Potts
Martin Graffenius as Howard Bevans
Heidi Cranston as Irma Kronkite
Rachel Matthews as Christine Schoenwalder
Terry Beck as Bomber Gutzel