How Do You Spell Hope?

How Do You Spell Hope? weaves together three inspiring stories of courage and compassion in the face of illiteracy: the historical narratives of the great orator Frederick Douglass, the true story of a teenage star athlete who overcomes dyslexia, and the struggles of a contemporary immigrant family. The play transports the audience to the early 19th century where a young Fredrick Douglass first learns of the freedom reading brings to those who can unlock its strength. As Douglass looks North to freedom, the audience finds itself back in the present looking into an immigrant community where a young woman teaches others the value of cultural literacy. The final story follows a high school athlete who triumphs over dyslexia to pursue a college education.

How Do You Spell Hope?, written by nationally recognized playwright and long-time URT collaborator Melinda Lopez, is presented with humor and humanity. Ms. Lopez has a long history with URT, she performed in URT's award-winning touring production: Are You Ready My Sister? for two years and URT co-produced the premiere of her play Media Noche, (Women on Top Theater Festival, 1998) about growing up Cuban- American, for which she received an Elliot Norton Award. For her script The Order of Things, Ms Lopez won two national awards in 1999: from the Kennedy Center's New American Plays program, and the first annual Charlotte Woolard Award for most promising new voice in American theater. Ms. Lopez brings both generous humor and great compassion to her characters, who are often caught in a matrix of personal dilemmas and social problems.

The set, conceived by award-winning muralist, David Fitcher (The Potluck, Harvest Coop, Cambridge), in collaboration with book artist, Laurie Blacklow, mirrors the journey through a children's book. Designed as a giant theatrical pop-up book, the turn of each "page" reveals new scenes with puppet stages, actors' entrances, shadow puppet screens and more. The music for How Do You Spell Hope? is a rich blend of Latin rhythms and African American spirituals composed by Claudio Ragazzi (Next Stop Wonderland).