About the Play:

Having Hope At Home is a full-length play by David S. Craig. On a winter night in a drafty farmhouse a baby is about to arrive. As tensions rise between three dysfunctional generations, so does the laughter. It takes a baby to bridge the widening gap in this funny, heart-warming story of forgiveness and hope. Having Hope At Home shows how the heart sometimes chooses to take the longest way home.

Having Hope at Home is a side-splitting look at a family learning to love again. Carolyn has one evening to cook a three-course turkey dinner, make peace with her parents, get married in her grandmother's dress and hide the fact that she's in labour. What could possibly go wrong? On a cold winter night, in a drafty farmhouse, Carolyn goes into labour just as her parents arrive for dinner. She can't tell them she's having a home birth, as her father is the head of gynecology at the local hospital. She has to pretend everything is normal including passing off the midwife as the vet. Good intentions dissolve as modern medicine meets midwifery in a torrent of family feuding over where this baby should be born. As tensions rise between the three stubborn generations of family members, so does the laughter. It takes some serious truth-telling and a baby's birth to heal the rift in this hilarious, heartwarming story of forgiveness and hope. A light comedy with serious intentions, Having Hope At Home offers a message of forgiveness and hope.

Having Hope At Home was first produced in 2003 at the Blyth Festival Theatre (one of Canada's most widely-praised producers of new plays). Since then it has been consistently delighting audiences, and has become a staple of community theatres and regional repertory houses.

Cast: 3 female, 3 male

What people say:

"Let's cut right to the marrow. Having Hope At Home is a big-hearted comedy that will leave you in tears – tears of compassion and recognition as well as tears of laughter." — Waterloo Record

"Sweetly comic, wise and wonderful, it's a journey from anger and estrangement to where the heart reconnects with the joy of what it means to be alive." — The Hamilton Spectator

"A series of dramatic confrontations between city and country, birth and death, hospital deliveries and midwifery, French and English Canada, authority and rebellion." — The Globe and Mail

"A fantastic show that delivers humorous, heartfelt and insightful moments." — The Elgin Review

"Wholesome humour and the full array of festering family foibles." — Winnipeg Free Press

"Everything you could hope for – delightfully funny when it wants to be and dramatic when it has to be. Having Hope at Home disarms you with its sitcom architecture, letting you sit back and enjoy some perfectly constructed comedy." — The Star Phoenix

About the Playwright:

David S. Craig is one of Canada's most prolific playwrights and influential dramatists. He has served as an Artistic Director, playwright, performer, director, and producer of plays for over thirty-five years. He has written over thirty dramatic works that have been produced across Canada, the United States and Europe, including his hit comedy Having Hope at Home; the internationally acclaimed Danny, King of the Basement, which has been seen by more than half a million people in North America alone.