Olivia Martha Ilse

Based on Chekhov's Three Sisters and relocated to the Mississippi Delta in the 1930s, Olivia Martha Ilse follows the story of three sisters from childhood to adulthood. The orphan sisters are watched over by their older brother, Andrew, and together they oversee a large household of African American workers and servants. Over the years, many characters come and go, illuminating the hope and prosperity of the outside world. The sisters, ever secluded from that changing world, become focused on escaping to Jackson. When Nora, a foreigner from outside of the South, marries Andrew, and takes over the family home, the sisters are banished. Surrounded by death, love, racial challenge, and craving escape from their small Mississippi society, the sisters find their own voice, and in so doing give voice and promise to their household in the days leading up to World War II.