The Children’s Hour

Florida International University

By Lillian Hellman

Directed by Lesley-Ann Timlick

Sound Designed by Bryan Pivaral

"The Children’s Hour" by Lillian Hellman is a powerful drama centered around two women, Karen Wright and Martha Dobie, who run a girls' boarding school in 1930s New England. Their lives unravel when a vindictive student, Mary Tilford, fabricates a lie that the women are engaged in a lesbian relationship. The accusation spreads, leading to the collapse of their school, social ostracism, and devastating personal consequences. As the falsehood spirals out of control, the play explores themes of truth, repression, the destructive power of lies, and the societal intolerance of nonconformity.

Most of the scenes for this show took place within a school. Because of this, I decided to have the sound of a clock ticking through out those scenes. During the climax of the show the clock ticking would crescendo and then go silent when the lie eventually takes its tole. The clock ticking represented the truth coming to light because with every lie the truth is eventually told, all it takes is time.