“You dramatized a subject that touches almost everyone during a lifetime, and showed that men, stereotyped as running from emotions when possible, will face their fears as many times as necessary when their women are involved. Your work was moving and thought provoking... “
- Rick Williams, Iowa City
“Your insightful and sensitive picture of “men-in-waiting” reaches way beyond the title disease. It speaks directly to any spouse, lover, child, sibling or friend who has faced the uncertainty of a medical prognosis of someone dear.”
-Elaine Brown,
Mt. Pleasant, Iowa
"Experiencing Coffee and Hope was truly like experiencing a good cup of coffee. At times it was warm and soothing; at other times it provided a good jolt. Most of all, it was something I wanted to share with friends."
-Libby Slappey, Associate Director of Development for the Carver College of Medicine and UIHC
Reviews:
Taut drama reflects other side of cancer - By Marcella Lee
Cedar Rapids Gazette - October 26, 2008
"One would have to have a heart of stone not to be moved by the powerful little play written by Ron Clark, resident artist at Riverside Theatre, that premiered Friday night." Click here for the full review.
Riverside's Coffee and Hope is potent theater - By Rob Cline
CorridorBuzz.com - October 27, 2008
"As the audience enters Riverside Theatre for Coffee and Hope — written by Riverside’s resident artist and production manager Ron Clark and directed by Kevin Harris — Clark is already on stage. In the waiting room of a women’s cancer center, his character Frank gets a cup of coffee, flips through some magazines, listens to the piped-in music and people watches as other folks wander in and out. The device establishes the rhythms of the liminal space that waiting rooms become, both physically and psychologically, and brings the audience into that space as well. What happens there is emotionally wrenching and quietly affirming."
For more information about Coffee and Hope, please contact
Jody Hovland at 319-887-1360 or artistic@riversidetheatre.org
