Two Hours' Traffic

One of the best elements of the playwrights' collective known as The Welders is that each production bears the stamp of a different artist, one with their own unique voice that is, by design, one among an ensemble of artists. With In This Hope: A Pericles Project, Hannah Hessel Ratner is the producing playwright and lets her dramaturgical mind lead the way, leading us into a theatrical world that's fascinated by story, place, and connection; in some ways, it's a very dramaturgical play, riveted by themes and ideas and specific knowledge and insight. It's also, however, the kind of play that is created new with each performance, thanks to the shades and nuance that each audience brings with them.


Pericles, Prince of Tyre is a perfect starting place for a project like In This Hope, with its provenance as a collaboration, likely between Shakespeare and another playwright named George Wilkins (the current leading contender).  Pericles is a story of personal diasporas and se…