Becky Nurse of Salem

“Once upon a time people thought the devil explained everything. Then a hundred years later they thought sex explained everything. And now? They think statistics explain everything. Numbers. But numbers don’t explain anything. Numbers didn’t explain the election, did they? Sorry, I didn’t mean to bring that up.”

Out of work and out of love, Becky Nurse is an ordinary but strong-willed grandmother just trying to get by in post-Obama America. She’s also the great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter of Rebecca Nurse, who was infamously executed for witchcraft in 1692 — but things have changed for women since then, haven’t they? Desperate to raise her troubled teenaged granddaughter right, and also hook up with an old flame, Becky visits a local witch for help. But those spells and potions don’t work out exactly as planned.

The latest play from Tony-nominated Sarah Ruhl, Becky Nurse of Salem speaks to the trials and triumphs of women today — and is also a comedic, warmhearted story about trying to do the right thing in a chaotic world.