The Proud One

A powerful and compassionate account of the disintegration of a family. Martha Hoffman, an aspiring young writer living in New York in the early 1960s, returns to her mother’s house in Little Falls, USA for the wedding of her younger sister. In her bohemian world of shiftless artists and fleeting relationships, she feels lonely and insecure but masks it with arrogance. Her sister, the plain one, has found love and stability and is being honored for it. While the wedding festivities progress during the July 4 weekend, a neighbor, Mrs. Steinberg, targets the groom’s wealthy cousin for her daughter. Outraged by her crude tactics, Martha seduces the vulnerable youth and sheds her virginity – a tragedy which brings disgrace to her widowed mother who strives to preserve her Jewish traditions. Recipient of a Samuel French national award, the play was originally published by Playwrights Canada, Toronto, 1973, and the International Readers’ Theatre, 1996. It was first produced at the Backdoor Theatre, Toronto, 1974, under the direction of Mel Tuck.