House on Stilts
Haunted by a tragic Fourth of July accident, Rutherford Stub lives alone in a borrowed house on the edge of Crooktail Island, waiting for the woman across the water to wake up—until an old friend and her teenage daughter arrive, wrecking his years of quiet solitude. In the months between his unhappy birthday and the always difficult Fourth of July, hermitical Rutherford gets a glimpse of a happier life. But when it's time to let go of the past, can he? A funny and heartbreaking tale of unexpected friendship set in the South Carolina lowcountry.
Read Sample
AMELIA
She needs to hear my voice.
RUTHERFORD
And you?
AMELIA
(Shrugs.) I know she’s there.
RUTHERFORD
Watch you don’t sleep tonight. Watch you up at three in the
morning, honking that tuba to the moon like some berserk wolf
lost his tribe.
AMELIA
Oh - did I wake you -
RUTHERFORD
Get all wired up every time you make that call. I oughta
disconnect the phone. Why she can’t utter two syllables to
her daughter is plain -
AMELIA
Did I wake you last night?
RUTHERFORD
No.
AMELIA
Good.
RUTHERFORD
Terrible beautiful dreams I had, tugboats run aground, mack
trucks in distress, whales beached in the yard, booming their
whalesongs.
Pause.
AMELIA
It’s a tuba. What do you want me to do?
RUTHERFORD
Rehearse during the day.
AMELIA
Things are more expensive at night. Everything is worth more
at night, especially music. Mom says that. I went to the
dunes so it wouldn’t wake you. I went way out. I went off the
path.
RUTHERFORD
Well don’t do that, either.
AMELIA
I play as quiet as possible.
RUTHERFORD
That’s an odd thing to say about a tuba.
AMELIA
I wonder. Low notes travel the farthest, you know. Hey, I
wonder if I could call a whale?
Cast Requirements
2 men
2 women
Honors
Commissioned by South Coast Repertory Theatre
Press
"A new work with an old soul from a writer I can't wait to see more of." --Official Blog of the Williamstown Theatre Festival
Production and Development History
Reading: Royal National Theatre Studio (2009); Page 73 Productions (2009); Geva Theatre Center (2010); Northlight Theatre (2011); Williamstown Theatre Festival (2011).