There's a scene toward the end of Act One...that is so quiet and unassuming, yet so
provocative, so dramatically sound and so richly satisfying, that is all but explains what
the theater is for."
Tom McElfresh, Cincinnati City Beat, 6.13.02, Chagrin Falls produced
by Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival
"The play marks the emergence of a very promising theatrical voice - one with both style
and substance."
- Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times, 9.27.01, Chagrin Falls produced by
Stage Left Theatre, Chicago
Chagrin Falls
Don Tieri, Cory Krebsbach, Morgan McCabe; Stage Left Theatre, Chicago, IL; directed by Kevin Heckman, photo by Tony V. Martin
Jennifer Willison and Harry Eddleman; Stage Left Theatre, Chicago, IL; directed by Kevin Heckman, photo by Tony V. Martin
Don Tieri and Jennifer Willison; Stage Left Theatre, Chicago, IL; directed by Kevin Heckman, photo by Tony V. Martin
Cory Krebsbach and Don Tieri; Stage Left Theatre, Chicago, IL; directed by Kevin Heckman, photo by Tony V. Martin
To live in Chagrin Falls, Oklahoma is to be in the killing business. The town's major employers are the cattle slaughterhouse and the penitentiary where lethal injection is administered. Whether they work at the slaughterhouse, or play preacher or guard to death row inmates, or merely offer a bed and a hot meal to those visiting the prison, each resident of Chagrin Falls makes their living off of death and captivity.
A week prior to a particular execution, an Asian-American graduate student comes to town — purportedly to do a story on a man who is scheduled to die. As this would-be journalist interviews a cross-section of the population she finds her subjects revealing far more than their opinions on capital punishment. She is repelled by the recently- retired slaughterhouse employee's morbid humor and his strangely intense interest in her background. She is seduced by one prison guard's painful tale of sacrifice, and is comforted by the naïvétè and kindness of another.
Though she never gets what she came for, when she witnesses the execution she becomes one of them: a participant in the killing, an honorary resident of Chagrin Falls.
Cast: 2 women, 4 men
Chagrin Falls won the 2001 American Theatre Critics Association Osborn Award and was a finalist for their Steinberg Award. Chagrin Falls also received Joseph Jefferson and After Dark Awards for Best New Work, as well as a Cincinnati Entertainment Award for Best Production, and First Prize in the Julie Harris Playwriting Competition.
"Ms. McCullough has the gift of tricking you into thinking her elegant, eloquent
dialogue could be real conversation, but of course, conversation is rarely this casually
illuminating or so filled with gentle laughter."
Jackie Demaline, The Cincinnati Enquirer,
6.12.02