Heavy Is the Rain

Heavy is the Rain: The Play is based on the novel of the same name. The script chronicles the life of the protagonist, Billie Cunningham from the late 1940's to the mid-1960's. Initially, Billie's mother, Lilly Ann, moves them to Baltimore from South Carolina in the hopes of securing a better life by marrying a man 12 years her senior. This decision proves to be a major miscalculation on Lilly Ann's part, but not at all surprising to Billie and her clairvoyant grandmother, Gertie, left in South Carolina. The play captures the three major themes of the book: child sexual and physical abuse; the friendship and love that develops between, Billie and Tom, a neighborhood boy that grows up with her; and the psychic connection between Billie and her mysterious grandmother. The playwright cautions directors and actors that the play may illicit strong emotions from some theater-goers.