The Apple Family: Scenes from Life in the Country
The Apple Family Plays: [1] That Hopey Changey Thing / [2] Sweet and Sad / [3] Sorry / [4] Regular Singing / [5] What Do We Need to Talk About? / [6] And So We Come Forth / [7] Incidental Moments of the Day
All Titles in Order
That Hopey Changey Thing
Set on election day, November 2, 2010. Uncle Benjamin’s dog has died, and his nieces and nephew have gathered for dinner in Rhinebeck, New York, to surprise him with a new one. While the polls close, the Apple Family discusses memory, manners, and politics.
Open title →Sweet and Sad
The Apple Family finds themselves together again for the first time since Election Night, 2010. Marian, reeling from a personal tragedy, now lives with her sister Barbara; sister Jane is back with her boyfriend Tim; their brother Richard has come up from Manhattan; and Uncle Benjamin prepares for his first dramatic performance in years. Over Sunday brunch on the 10th anniversary of 9/11, the Apples find themselves talking about loss, memory, remembrance, and the meaning of compensation.
Open title →Regular Singing
The fourth and final play in this captivating series, Regular Singing, opened on November 22, 2013 – the 50th Anniversary of JFK's assassination that shocked the world.
Open title →Sorry
A year after Sweet and Sad, the Apple Family again share a meal in Rhinebeck, NY, as they sort through personal and political feelings of loss and confusion on the morning of the day the country will choose the next president. Like the first two plays in this trilogy, Sweet and Sad and That Hopey Changey Thing, Sorry opens on the day that it is set, November 6, 2012: Election Day.
Open title →What Do We Need to Talk About?
In the midst of our unsettled world, the Apple Family, last seen in 2014, return, though not over the dinner table, but via Zoom. This hour-long play picks up with them during their now suspended and quarantined lives. They talk about grocery shopping, friends lost, new ventures on a hoped-for horizon—all at a time when human conversation (and theater) may be more needed than ever before.
Open title →And So We Come Forth
The Apple Family reunites to discuss recent events during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Open title →Incidental Moments of the Day
The final installment of "The Apple Family: Life on Zoom" trilogy, featuring Lucy Michael of "The Michaels."
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