By Jean-Marie Allion, Lead Writer, “Home Water”

This evening, after eight months of gestation and not without some trepidation, our Community Playwright Circle presented our most recently born child to the world. In this particular case, the world turned out to be the studio of Matrix Theatre, a Knight Arts grantee, where eight readers shared the first draft of “Home Water” in front of a dozen people.

For all of us it was a premiere: we had never heard our script before in its entirety. For me, it was the end of a long journey, with its twists and turns, its unexpected discoveries, its hours of incertitude but also its moments of joy and good humor lived with a Circle certainly full of life.

“Home Water” invites the audience to glimpse into the life of the Watson family in southwest Detroit. Tommy and Belinda have been married for twenty years and have two children: Jay (19) and Christine (15). Tommy is an eternal dreamer and has tried all kinds of business ventures that all failed. Belinda has been trundling along, putting bread on the table for the whole family; she is a tired survivor whose only solace is her garden. As the play starts, their house is on the verge of foreclosure, and then their water is shut off. Never short of new ideas, Tommy decides to dig his own well in the backyard. In the process, he destroys Belinda’s garden. This is the last straw for her and she leaves him. They will eventually be reunited and, even though they lose their home, restart somewhat afresh.

Belinda is certainly the main character of the story and might appear as an icon of Detroit: betrayed, lied to, tired but still resilient, finding in herself enough strength to be nurturing, and always in quest of the well that would at last quench her thirst.

The audience received our play favorably. They liked the characters (in particular the somewhat pesky blind neighbor, Mr. Ben!); they were taken by the plot and found the whole situation quite believable and well located in southwest Detroit. In their feedback, they offered many precious suggestions.

We need to work on character development; the relationship between Belinda and Tommy should be shown more in depth, starting from a point before the conflict becomes too intense; the denouement would gain to be more in line with the rest of the plot… We took good note of all the remarks and we will have a lot to work with when our Circle reconvenes in September to put the final touch to the script. I will certainly keep you posted.

In the meantime, I will try to tell you how we proceeded all along these past eight months. By the way, have you ever heard about our “jambalayas”? Sounds yummy? Wait until you hear the whole story!