“It’s a universal piece about a little girl who is missing her mother who’s away because of the war,” Mariah L. Richardson said of her play Delilah’s Wish, which she will premiere Feb. 27 and 28 with Metro Theater Company.
Set in an integrated neighborhood in North St. Louis, Delilah’s Wish follows a precocious eight-year-old girl named Delilah, whose mother is serving in the military in Iraq. Surrounded by adults who care about her, Delilah reveals just how resilient children can be when they face complicated challenges.
Nicholas Kryah, who is directing the premiere production, said, “I believe Mariah has created in Delilah a classic American character as striking, in her own way, as that other child of Missouri, Huckleberry Finn. Delilah is a bold inhabitant of a diverse and thriving neighborhood in our own time, a girl longing for the future, yet rooted in her present.”
Richardson learned all about St. Louis and diversity by attending Sumner High School and growing up in the center of St. Louis. “There are all types of people in the world and everybody doesn’t get along, and that is what we need to learn how to do,” Richardson said.
In the play, as she recounts the ups and downs in her life over the course of a year, Delilah brings her neighborhood to life: her friend Stanley, who lives down the street and is always being punished; the older boys on the block, who lure Stanley into trouble; the lifelong resident, a Jewish man, Mr. Horowitz, whose morning paper keeps getting stolen; the immigrant family who fled a war-torn Iran and now run the corner store; and the young couple from Texas who recently moved to the neighborhood.
Richardson outgrew the old neighborhood, though she is carrying it with her.
She earned an M.F.A. in playwriting from Smith College and is now an adjunct professor at St. Louis Community College at Forest Park. Richardson has worked on projects for HBO/New Writers Project, has written and directed short films and has taught in after-school programs, residences and homeless shelters from Los Angeles to New England. Richardson performed for three seasons in Long Road to Freedom with Metro Theater Company. She also is an accomplished poet.
Metro Theater Company presents Delilah’s Wish at 2 p.m. on Feb. 27 and 28 in the Lee Auditorium at the Missouri History Museum at Lindell and DeBaliviere in Forest Park. The Missouri History Museum is a cosponsor, and the play is a component of the museum’s “RACE: Are We So Different?” exhibit.
Each performance will be followed by a free neighborhood block party featuring The Drum Corps from Carr Lane Visual and Performing Arts Middle School.
Special activities will include a poetry wall, a book nook, several special art projects and an opportunity to make cards to send to those who are serving our country overseas. This play is written and produced for children who may have parents, family members or distant relatives in the war.
“It gives them a voice. It makes them feel important like they’re not forgotten, because it is tough,” Richardson said.
Tickets are $12 for adults and $10 for children, students and seniors. For groups of 10 or more, tickets cost $8 per person. Tickets are available through Brown Paper Tickets at 800-838-3006 or at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/80472.
For more information, visit www.metrotheatercompany.org, http://www.metrotheatercompany.org or call 314-997-6777.
