The Hope and Heartache Diner

The Hope and Heartache Diner by Lindsay Price is a wonderful character piece with parts for everyone – available in full-length and one-act versions. Diners are a special place. You can get your coffee, fall in love, and find light when the world is dark. Duke’s is a family business – four generations strong. Felix wants one last hurrah before leaving for college. She’s doing the full run – open to close – just like her grandpa did when he was a teenager. But why? Everyone knows Felix can barely wipe tables. Why is she trying so hard to connect? And what happens when Felix’s parents announce they’re selling the diner? The super-talented student performers at Strack Intermediate School in Klein, Texas had more hope than heartache in their production of the play and teacher, Jennifer Paske , was thrilled to share their photos and let us know all about it: “It was such a great experience for the kids. The characters were so fun to play and our UIL judge really liked it.”

Available in full-length and one-act versions, The Hope and Heartache Diner by Lindsay Price is truly a wonderful character piece with parts for everyone. Diners are a special place. You can get your coffee, fall in love, and find light when the world is dark. Duke’s is a family business – four generations strong. Felix wants one last hurrah before leaving for college. She’s doing the full run – open to close – just like her grandpa did when he was a teenager. But why? Everyone knows Felix can barely wipe tables. Why is she trying so hard to connect? And what happens when Felix’s parents announce they’re selling the diner? We were thrilled to hear about the success of the amazing student group at Hocker Grove Middle School in Shawnee, Kansas. Director Shawnasea Holst shared about the tremendous impact that each person had on the production as well as offering up some fantastic tips and advice for anyone looking to perform The Hope and Heartache Diner with their group: “The Hope & Heartache Diner was an excellent opportunity for my students to do a deep-dive into characterization, without giving up the large-sized cast that my program needs. This show has an excellent number of monologues for minor roles, so even the “small” parts are meaningful and full of potential. I LOVED going all-out on the set. The author’s note at the beginning of the script says that the set can be more suggestive, but as we began rehearsals, I felt like the diner was a character and it was fun and easy to add details to the set to make it feel very real and complicated. (Complicated because it’s beloved, yet in a horrendous state of disrepair.) Rat and Wiki are probably the two most important casting decisions. Despite the number of lines Felix has, the real challenge is finding actors who can play such a wide range in Rat, and who can act wordlessly without being “quiet” like Wiki. I think I said a million times during auditions, “Shy is not the same as wordless, and wordless doesn’t mean you’re quiet when you do talk.” I felt like Wiki was a challenge for subtlety but also in creating the emotional climax necessary in the “Family Meeting” scene. I’m extremely proud of the work we did with those characters, and I feel like the wrong casting decisions could have tanked our whole show.”

Welcome to our Featured Play Spotlight. Ready for an amazing character piece with parts for everyone? Check out The Hope and Heartache Diner by Lindsay Price – available in full-length and one-act versions. Diners are a special place. You can get your coffee, fall in love, and find light when the world is dark. Duke’s is a family business – four generations strong. Felix wants one last hurrah before leaving for college. She’s doing the full run – open to close – just like her grandpa did when he was a teenager. But why? Everyone knows Felix can barely wipe tables. Why is she trying so hard to connect? And what happens when Felix’s parents announce they’re selling the diner? Let’s hear from the author!1. Why did you write this play? I wanted to write a play about a character about to face great change in a place that never changes. The best diners seems to be stuck in stasis, which is why I think people gravitate to them. They don’t change. They are familiar. They are home. They are filled with characters (and a ghost or two), which is always a great place to start a play. 2. Describe the theme in one or two sentences. You can’t escape change, even in a place that never changes. 3. What’s the most important visual for you in this play? The diner is visualized in an “Our Town” fashion. It’s not kitchen sink realism. It’s a story that moves from past to present (with a ghost or two), so to have that open space, fragments, gauzy look to it is best. 4. If you could give one piece of advice for those producing the play, what would it be? Focus on the family. This is a family that loves each other, even if they don’t know how to express it. And there are many layers of family from the diner regulars, to Felix’s family, to the strays that find their way into the diner’s glow. It’s all about family. 5. Why is this play great for student performers? This is a great play to deepen character development skills. These characters exist fully as much outside the pages of the play as in, so it’s important to do your research.