Cold Water Army
(4F, 4M)
(95 mins)
As The Great Blizzard of 1888 brings Louisville to a standstill, a monstrous fish is caught and stored overnight in an Irish tavern; it’s presence here will forever change the lives of those forced to take shelter in the Kentucky tavern overnight.
Cold Water Army is a story about the collision of wild and desperate people. Dallin, the tavern-keeper with an impossible debt to pay; Adalyn, a devout member of the Cold Water Temperance movement; and Farielle, daughter of one of the first free Black coal-miners in Kentucky. While Dallin struggles to find a way to pay for his father’s mistakes and keep the liquor flowing, Farielle wants to skip town and get away from the likes of Mr Finchley, local bigwig, and his nefarious side-kick, Topper. Adalyn longs to do God’s dirty work and close the tavern for good.
As their fortunes clash, the surreal presence of the gigantic fish and the two little girls who accompany it, bears down on them; it’s soon revealed that they are all entwined in an act of arson and murder.
– Performed off-site UT Austin (2014), directed by Lily Wolff, designed by Bruno-Pierre Houle.
(photo by Shannon Kintner)