Mattie's brilliant older brother Jamie told her of myths when she was growing up in Galena, Illinois. As a lonely girl of fourteen she said goodbye to Jamie when he flew across the globe for a career in archaeology. On a dig in Lebanon in 1968, he had a psychological breakdown, transforming him forever. Thirty years later, an international inquiry compels Mattie, now a successful businesswoman, to investigate the provenance of an ancient pot from her brother’s past. Moving between layers of the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘90s, THE DIG dramatizes Mattie’s belated realization of her loss – and acceptance of who her brother has become.

CASTING: 5 actors (2W, 3M). Diversity welcome.
SET REQUIREMENTS: Simple single set for quick shifts in time and place
RUN TIME: 1 hour, 45 minutes

Production History

Produced:
Third Avenue Playhouse, Sturgeon Bay, WI – 2019
Renaissance Theaterworks, Milwaukee, WI – 2009 (Premiere)
Readings / Workshops:
   Winter Play Reading Festival, Third Avenue Playhouse, Sturgeon Bay, WI – 2018
   Taliesin, Spring Green, WI – 2008
   (Act I) Playwrights’ Center, Minneapolis, MN – 2007
   Sewanee Writers’ Conference, Sewanee, TN – 2007
   (Act I) Madison Repertory Theatre, Madison, WI – 2005

AWARDS

Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Nominee – 2009
Playwrights' Center Lab, Finalist – 2009
Playwrights First, Semi-Finalist – 2009