FORKS OF IVY, a full-length drama, written and directed by Cass Erickson, will have a staged reading on January 30 and 31, 2009 at the Lowry Lab Theater in St. Paul, Minnesota. The reading is sponsored by Lex-Ham Community Theater.

Set in a cove in the mountains of southern Appalachia, FORKS OF IVY is the story of an aging patriarch who questions his faith and life in the aftermath of the accidental death of his son. The subsequent dynamics of an unraveling family become intertwined with the arrival of a couple from New York. The play pays homage to contemporary life in southern Appalachia and explores the issues of loss, loneliness, domestic violence, transiency, belonging, spirituality, redemption, and reconciliation.

FORKS OF IVY was a finalist in the 2006 Trustus Theatre Playwrights’ Festival (Columbia, South Carolina). Trustus Theatre literary manager Jon Tuttle found the play 'utterly Faulknerian . . . in the richness of its language and detail.'

The Theater Space Project, owners of the Lowry Lab Theater, provided the venue through a generous grant from Travelers Foundation. For more information, see www.theatrespaceproject.org.

The reading is free and will be followed by an author feedback session.