Driving Miss Daisy

The place is the Deep South, the time 1948, just prior to the civil rights movement. Having recently demolished another car, Daisy Werthan, a rich, sharp-tongued Jewish widow of seventy-two, is informed by her son, Boolie, that henceforth she must rely on the services of a chauffeur. The person he hires for the job is a thoughtful, unemployed Black man, Hoke, whom Miss Daisy immediately regards with disdain and who, in turn, is not impressed with his employer’s patronizing tone and, he believes, her latent prejudice. But, in a series of absorbing scenes spanning twenty-five years, the two, despite their mutual differences, grow ever closer to, and more dependent on, each other. Slowly and steadily the dignified, good-natured Hoke breaks down the stern defenses of the ornery old lady.

This production originated at the Athens Theatre, and was remounted at Theatre St. Lukes, and again twice at Theater West End. It earned Orlando Sentinel's Critics Choice Award for Best Production of 2021, as well as Best Director of a Comedy for Tara Kromer, and a nomination for Best Sound Design.