220 Jewett Blvd, PO Box 218, White Salmon, WA 98672 | 509.493.2112

CAST, Hospice present one-woman show

Starts Sept. 9

Columbia Center for the Arts and Hospice of the Gorge: present a one-woman show "The Year of Magical Thinking" by Joan Didion.

The show stars Broadway and off Broadway actress Sharon Laughlin and is directed by Judie Hanel.

The show opens on Sept. 9 with a reception by Hospice of the Gorge at 6:30 p.m., show at 7:30.

Show times continue Sept. 10, 11, 16, and 17 at 7:30 p.m. and Sept. 12 at 2 p.m. at Columbia Center for the Arts, 215 Cascade Ave. Hood River.

The Year of Magical Thinking, is based on the National Book Award winning memoir of the same name. The book chronicles what Didion refers to as "a year of going crazy" after her husband, John Gregory Dunne, died of cardiac arrest at the dining room table while their only daughter, Quintana, lay intubated and comatose in a nearby hospital bed.

More than simply an adaptation, the stage play is a re-envisioning. Rather than pull excerpts from the book, Didion actually wrote entirely new material for the play.

Didion said that transforming the story for the stage had therapeutic benefits for her, in that it helped her to better process these life events.

Tickets are $15, adults; $12, seniors and students; $10 for groups of 10 or more and are available at Columbia Arts and Waucoma Bookstore in Hood River, The Brighter Side in White Salmon and online at www.columbiaarts.org