by Jeannie Marlin Woods
The landscape of grief and loss can be a perilous territory in which to find oneself and those boundless emotions can plunge one into darkness and hopelessness. However, in Tatty Hennessy’s play, 100 WORDS FOR SNOW, that landscape becomes a place of wonder, beauty, and danger that compels a young girl into a journey of self-actualization. This remarkable and imaginative play is a fantastic choice for Chester Theatre Company’s 2025 season.
The only character on stage is Rory, a bright, resourceful, and naïve teenage girl whose beloved father (a high school Geography teacher) has suddenly died in a car accident. The scene is so simple – a girl, a funerary urn, a red curtain. Rory, who has rejected her given name of Aurora, is tomboyish and angry when we meet her. Surrounded by the well-wishers after the funeral, she portrays the people around her who say “stupid” remarks as well as her mother—already slipping into a numbed torpor of her own grief. Rory relates seeing the casket carry her father into the crematory fire – as she describes the parting of the red curtain, the backdrop becomes symbolic of her all-consuming loss.
She retreats to her father’s study and finds his last journal in which he had planned to take her on a trip to the North Pole. A love of the stories of polar exploration is a special bond between the father and daughter. As she struggles to find a resting place for his ashes, she decides she must make the trip her father had planned and deposit his ashes at the north pole. We will meet characters along the way and learn a great deal about the Arctic and its (often fatal) attraction to explorers. We will see Rory meet the challenges of the unforgiving cold and ice as well as her own spontaneous (and poorly thought out) decisions. As she nears her goal, she must reconsider and directly face her own shortcomings and adolescent impulsiveness that brings her to the edge of the abyss –the “nothingness” of the north pole.
Hero Marguerite as Rory in Tatty Hennessy’s “100 Words for Snow” directed by Michelle Ong-Hendrick, at the Chester Theatre Company. Photo Andrew Greco. 
Hero Marguerite as Rory in Tatty Hennessy’s “100 Words for Snow” directed by Michelle Ong-Hendrick, at the Chester Theatre Company. Photo Andrew Greco. 
Hero Marguerite as Rory in Tatty Hennessy’s “100 Words for Snow” directed by Michelle Ong-Hendrick, at the Chester Theatre Company. Photo Andrew Greco. 
Hero Marguerite as Rory in Tatty Hennessy’s “100 Words for Snow” directed by Michelle Ong-Hendrick, at the Chester Theatre Company. Photo Andrew Greco. 
Hero Marguerite as Rory in Tatty Hennessy’s “100 Words for Snow” directed by Michelle Ong-Hendrick, at the Chester Theatre Company. Photo Andrew Greco. 
Hero Marguerite as Rory in Tatty Hennessy’s “100 Words for Snow” directed by Michelle Ong-Hendrick, at the Chester Theatre Company. Photo Andrew Greco. 
Hero Marguerite as Rory in Tatty Hennessy’s “100 Words for Snow” directed by Michelle Ong-Hendrick, at the Chester Theatre Company. Photo Andrew Greco. 
Hero Marguerite as Rory in Tatty Hennessy’s “100 Words for Snow” directed by Michelle Ong-Hendrick, at the Chester Theatre Company. Photo Andrew Greco. 
Hero Marguerite as Rory in Tatty Hennessy’s “100 Words for Snow” directed by Michelle Ong-Hendrick, at the Chester Theatre Company. Photo Andrew Greco. 
Hero Marguerite as Rory in Tatty Hennessy’s “100 Words for Snow” directed by Michelle Ong-Hendrick, at the Chester Theatre Company. Photo Andrew Greco. 
Hero Marguerite as Rory in Tatty Hennessy’s “100 Words for Snow” directed by Michelle Ong-Hendrick, at the Chester Theatre Company. Photo Andrew Greco. 
This unique solo performance is perfectly played by a remarkable young actress, Hero Marguerite. Delivered in direct address for a full 96 minutes, like lighting in a bottle, Marguerite captures the essence of this passionate and funny young woman. Her crisp English accent and high energy speech is enhanced with her grace and physicality that sustains the intricate mechanics of this story.
Michelle Ong-Hendrick has directed the play with a sensitive imaginativeness and lucidness. Working with a fine team of designers, the play is staged to move effortlessly from funeral, to an airplane, to Svalbard, Norway, and to the North Pole. With scenic design by Jeremy Winchester and lighting design by Margo Caddell, we are literally transported in this fanciful expedition. With the simplest of means – a white plastic drop that morphs into the snowbank and again into the tent – a ladder that becomes a plane or impediment as needed—we are effectively carried along on the journey. Simple props or a table or chair wheel in to complete the essence of the scene. The visual is enriched with a lovely sound score by designer Raphael Hendrick-Baker. It all works together as a piece.
100 WORDS FOR SNOW is a drama about grief but even more it is about understanding how to deal with loss with love and hope. It certainly has greater resonance in a time where we are seeing climate change that hovers like a wolf at the door. As playwright Hennesey says in her program notes, “How do we come to terms with what we’ve already lost?” How do we relate to the planet and each other?” 100 WORDS offers comfort on the micro scale if not on the macro scale. It plays at Chester Theatre Company through July 13th. Highly recommended for young adults and older.
Credits
Playwright: Tatty Hennessy
Director: Michelle Ong-Hendrick
Cast: Hero Marguerite as Rory
Design Creatives:
Scenic Design: Jeremy Winchester
Lighting Design: Margo Caddell
Costume Design: Stefanos Zogopoulos
Sound Design: Raphael Hendrick-Baker
Information
100 WORDS FOR SNOW runs July 3-13, 2025
Performances Wednesdays through Sunday
Wed. 2 pm
Thurs. 2 pm and 7:30 pm
Friday 7:30 pm
Saturday 2 pm and 7:30 pm
Sunday 2 pm
Running time 96 minutes
Town Hall Theatre
15 Middlefield Road
Chester, MA 01011
Box Office: (413) 354-7771
Administrative: (413) 354-7770
Email: info@chestertheatre.org