tHE DIG
“…THE DIG tells an authentic story that keeps the audience guessing, laughing and, at times, aching.” – Peninsula Pulse (July 2019)
Photo Credit Heidi Hodges
Mattie's brilliant older brother Jamie told her of myths when she was growing up in Galena, Illinois. As a lonely girl of fourteen she said goodbye to Jamie when he flew across the globe for a career in archaeology. On a dig in Lebanon in 1968, he had a psychological breakdown, transforming him forever. Thirty years later, an international inquiry compels Mattie, now a successful businesswoman, to investigate the provenance of an ancient pot from her brother’s past. Moving between layers of the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘90s, THE DIG dramatizes Mattie’s belated realization of her loss – and acceptance of who her brother has become.
CASTING: 5 actors (2W, 3M). Diversity welcome.
SET REQUIREMENTS: Simple single set for quick shifts in time and place
RUN TIME: 1 hour, 45 minutes
Production History
Produced:
Third Avenue Playhouse, Sturgeon Bay, WI – 2019
Renaissance Theaterworks, Milwaukee, WI – 2009 (Premiere)
Readings / Workshops:
Winter Play Reading Festival, Third Avenue Playhouse, Sturgeon Bay, WI – 2018
Taliesin, Spring Green, WI – 2008
(Act I) Playwrights’ Center, Minneapolis, MN – 2007
Sewanee Writers’ Conference, Sewanee, TN – 2007
(Act I) Madison Repertory Theatre, Madison, WI – 2005
AWARDS
Playwrights' Center PlayLabs Festival, Semi-Finalist – 2009
Playwrights First Best New Play Award, Semi-Finalist – 2009
Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Nominee – 2009
Reviews
“THE DIG is a play that explores both shadows and light. Heavier scenes of anxiety and strife are punctuated by the levity of storytelling, laughter, love and awe.” – Door County Pulse, July 2019
“Sensitive yet honest.” – Shepherd Express, July 2019
“Marie Kohler has created one smart play, a step or three up from whatever ‘regular’ might be.” – WeAreGreenBay.com, June 2019
"…teeming with symbolism... Like the different strata of artifacts found at ancient sites, THE DIG has many layers... a compelling mystery that Kohler builds quite skillfully..." – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, January 2009
"The convoluted landscape of the human psyche can be a real challenge to bring to the stage, but Milwaukee playwright Marie Kohler does an admirable job of conveying the complexities of the mind…" – Shepherd Express, January 2009
"…a family mystery that holds the audience's attention until the final curtain... THE DIG is a must-see show that deserves to have a long life after this first production." – Total Theater, January 2009