Production History

Sally Nemeth's Holy Days premiered at the Soho Poly Theater in London . Critically acclaimed, the production won three awards at the Fringe Theatre Awards and later was produced in Dublin, Ireland, and Auckland, New Zealand . It premiered in the United States at South Coast Repertory in Costa Mesa, California, and won several Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards. Reviewers praised Nemeth's piece. For example, in the Orange County Register, the play was described as a “miracle about nobility of the human spirit that never sentimentalized its sufferers.” In the Chicago Sun-Times, the play was called “an enduring tribute to human resilience and survival.” And in The Los Angeles Times, Holy Days was labeled as a “majestic and gripping short stage poem.”

Director's Note

The year of the stock-market crash, 1929, marked the beginning of the depression in the United States. Farmers in Kentucky, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Nebraska, and Colorado suffered with the rest of the country in that the price of wheat–the main crop of the Midwest–dropped so low that no profit could be realized. As a result, farmers borrowed money from the banks, thinking that the years ahead would be as fruitful as those in the past, and it would be relatively easy to pay off their loans. However, this assumption proved false; in 1931 it stopped raining for five years, resulting in a continuing failure of the crops. The farmers sank deeper into debt.

Then, in the mid-1930s, came the "dustbowls," storms of dust and dirt that traveled up to sixty miles per hour, killing what was left of any crops. More frightening than the destruction of the land was the impact the storms had on the safety of the farmers and their families. In the most severe dustbowl storms, there was no visibility; it was impossible even to see one's hands. Wet sheets were placed over the windows; blankets were hung over the doors to keep the dust out; and masks were worn so as to breathe more easily. Yet, this was not enough, as many suffered from "dust pneumonia," an illness that was life threatening.

Not surprisingly, many families emigrated from the Midwest (a phenomenon represented in John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath, for example). Some families refused to leave, though, determined not to be victimized by the depression, by the drought, or by the dust bowls. And it is these families–the ones who stayed and survived–who are honored in Sally Nemeth's play, Holy Days.