Two figures stand in silhouette in the foreground with suitcases, looking in at at surprised woman hanging up laundry.

Also by Norm Foster

Bedtime Stories

Dear Santa

Ethan Claymore

A Foster Christmas

The Foster Season

The Foursome

The Gentleman Clothier

Jasper Station

Jenny’s House of Joy

Jonas and Barry in the Home

Kiss the Moon, Kiss the Sun

The Ladies Foursome

The Long Weekend

The Melville Boys

Mending Fences

Ned Durango (with Leslie Arden)

Office Hours

Old Love

On a First Name Basis

One-Actmanship

Opening Night

Outlaw

Self-Help

Sinners

Skin Flick

Storm Warning

Triple Play

Wrong for Each Other

Hilda’s Yard

Norm Foster

Playwrights Canada Press

Toronto

Hilda’s Yard © Copyright 2019 by Norm Foster

First edition: March 2019

Cover art and design by Patrick Gray

Playwrights Canada Press

202-269 Richmond St. W., Toronto, ON M5V 1X1

416.703.0013 :: info@playwrightscanada.com :: www.playwrightscanada.com

No part of this book may be reproduced, downloaded, or used in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, except for excerpts in a review or by a licence from Access Copyright, www.accesscopyright.ca.

For professional or amateur production rights, please contact:

The GGA

250 The Esplanade, Suite 304

Toronto, ON M5A 1J2

416.928.0299, http://ggagency.ca/apply-for-performance-rights/

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: Hilda’s yard / by Norm Foster.

Names: Foster, Norm, 1949- author.

Description: First edition. | A play.

Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20190053259 | Canadiana (ebook) 20190053267 | ISBN 9781770919662 (softcover) | ISBN 9781770919679 (PDF) | ISBN 9781770919686 (EPUB) | ISBN 9781770919693 (Kindle)

Classification: LCC PS8561.O7745 H55 2019 | DDC C812/.54 — dc23

Playwrights Canada Press acknowledges that we operate on land, which, for thousands of years, has been the traditional territories of the Mississaugas of the New Credit, the Huron-Wendat, the Anishinaabe, the Métis, and the Haudenosaunee peoples. Today, this meeting place is home to many Indigenous peoples from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work and play here.

We acknowledge the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts — which last year invested $153 million to bring the arts to Canadians throughout the country — the Ontario Arts Council (OAC), Ontario Creates, and the Government of Canada for our publishing activities.

A stylized, illustrated blue tree sits to the left of the words 'Canada Council for the Arts / Counseil des arts du Canada.'' The word Canada is written out with a Canadian flag—a red maple leaf flanked by two vertical red stripes—situated above the final A. An orange O is bisected by a green and purple C, situated to the left of the words 'Ontario Creates | Ontario Créatif.'' A large red A is bisected by an angled blue C, with a green O balanced between the two letters on the left. To the right of the OAC logo are the words 'Ontario Arts Council / Counseil des arts de l'Ontario' over a red line with the words 'An Ontario Government Agency / un organisme du gouvernement de l'Ontario' below the line.

Hilda’s Yard was first produced at Theatre New Brunswick in Fredericton, New Brunswick, in October 2012 with the following cast and creative team:

Hilda Fluck: Patricia Vanstone

Sam Fluck: Sam Rosenthal

Gary Fluck: Jonathan Gould

Janey Fluck: Perrie Olthuis

Bobbi Jakes: Jane Spence

Beverly Woytowich: Gordon Gammie

Director: Caleb Marshall

Stage Manager: Eamonn Reil

Set Designer: Patrick Clark

Costume Designer: Sherry Kinnear

Sound Designer: Michael Doherty

Lighting Designer: Chris Saad

Characters

Hilda Fluck: mid-fifties

Sam Fluck: mid-fifties

Gary Fluck: thirty-three

Janey Fluck: thirty

Bobbi Jakes: early thirties

Beverly Woytowich: around forty

Time

Morning. Friday, September 28, 1956.

Setting

The backyard of the Fluck family home. We see the back porch, an outdoor table, a couple of chairs, and a clothesline. A fence runs down both sides of the yard. There are a few kitschy lawn ornaments in the yard as well.