The Children's Hour at ARTSpace Black Box Theater

Set in a girls' boarding school in a fictional New England town in the 1930s, The Children's Hour tells the story of two women who own the school who are unjustly accused of homosexual activity by one of their students: one Mary Tilford. The outraged community (prompted by the influential Amelia Tilford, an upstanding member of Lancet-who also happens to be the indulgent grandmother of Mary) encourages parents to quickly withdraw all of their children from the school, causing a witch hunt that ultimately forces the school to close. Not to be defeated, Martha and Karen take the accusations to court in a libel suit and lose- despite the defense having no real foundation for a case (with the exception of the Mary's testimony). Their lives quickly unravel as they become social pariahs and justice comes too late.