Seven-year old Billie Cunningham, moves to Baltimore in 1948 with her mother, Lilly Ann, who hopes to find a better life by marrying Herbert Brown, a city slicker, 12 years her senior. Billie's misgivings about the marriage prove to be well founded, and she's forced to keep a terrible secret. She finds solace and safety in an angry Tom McNeal, Jr., who appoints himself her protector. Also, unbeknowst to Billie, her clairvoyant, mysterious grandmother, Gertie, in South Carolina, does things on her behalf. Ultimately, Billie and Tom realize they must reconcile their pasts in order to truly heal...

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;...