“You breathin’ fire girl, but don’t use that flame to warm that boy!” an irate Tice Hogan blurted in a vociferous tone at his daughter, Cali, before ending his harsh tirade. The audience watched in awe as this small, but loving family living in Alabama in the 1930’s is torn apart and emotionally distant due to an unintended visit from a stranger. Pursued by law for allegedly murdering a factory foreman, Corbin Teel forces his way into the Hogan’s home uninvited and unexpected, sort of like a rodent, and sparks a great deal of tension within the household. Tice Hogan is wary of Corbin because government spies have infiltrated the Communist Party and he is afraid of being found out for being a communist. However, when he realizes that this refugee is illiterate, is without a home, and has nothing but the clothes on his back, (and fearing Corbin telling others he is a communist) Hogan decides to try and convert him. Corbin stays.

The plot of Things of Dry Hours contains the ultimate love story. Two young, but completely opposite individuals seem to be strangely attracted to each other. Despite this eerie attraction between Corbin and Cali, several external factors also contribute to the demise of their potential relationship.  In addition, both their racial and intellectual backgrounds come in between Corbin and Cali. Cali is an intelligent young black woman with a strict Communist background, whereas Corbin is an illiterate and an ignorant white man who has nothing to live for. Even though both live completely different lifestyles, they both live in poverty.

I think the underlying purpose of this play was to show viewers that people’s tenets don’t change. From the beginning, Tice’s passion was Karl Marx’s beliefs and the Communist Party, which sought rights for workers. Corbin still remained bitter towards the end of the play, and his ignorance eventually leads to his tradgic downfall. The moment the serene mood was shattered by Corbin, a huge conflict emerged in the play. A clash of race and political ideologies: the African American Communist vs. Corbin, who believed the simple presence of a political party was not enough to unite blacks and poor whites. When Corbin finally faces an intellectual challenge and is educated by the Hogans, he understands the “dirty reds,” as he referred to them as prior in the play, and ironically, the sexual flare between him and Cali intensifies. Unfortunately, this came to an abrupt stop when Corbin proved that he was not the person he claimed to be. In fact, he began to resemble the ignorant, violent, and manipulative individual he was the day he mysteriously appeared on the doorstep of the Hogan family.

It was not until the end of the performance that I realized that the story was narrated by a dead man (who, I will not tell!). Infused with emotion and intense conflicts, and replete with comical moments, Things of Dry Hours teaches people the significance that hope, faith, and family can have.