A Modern Day Our Town.
During the historic Texas summer drought of 2011, a spirited daughter returns home from college to work on the family farm — just as it falls on hard times.
During the historic Texas summer drought of 2011, a spirited daughter returns home from college to work on the family farm — just as it falls on hard times.
“If you had a Mother, you'll care, and cry.”
Texas, summer 2011.
A working family farm in rural Central Texas, during the worst drought the state has seen in generations — the pastures dry, the stock tanks low, and an ordinary middle-class family carrying on with everyday life under an unforgiving sky.
Mourning Doves is written by an author who grew up in the rural heart of Texas, and knows how these people live — the work, the weather, and the small, ordinary moments that hold a family together.
The things this story is really about.
Three people, one house, and everything left unsaid between them.
The Mother
Faith worn soft by years of holding everything together.
The Father
A man measuring his life against the rain that won't come.
The Daughter
Home again, and not sure which version of herself belongs there.
A Modern Day Our Town.
One ordinary Texas family. One extraordinary summer.
A story drawn from real life.
Mourning Doves is semi-autobiographical, written by an author who grew up in the rural heart of Texas and knows this family's world firsthand — the quiet burdens a household carries, and the things that go unsaid until they can't be anymore.
Mourning Doves was a Second Round Selection at the Austin Film Festival in 2019 — the year Mary Anzalone was also accepted into The Playwrights Welcome Program, launched by Marsha Norman.