Plot

Dry rain, or "Virga" is a weather related phenomenon that occurs when precipitation evaporates before it hits the ground. It is often visually striking and looks like a torn drape hanging from a cloud giving the appearance that it is raining somewhere in the distance. Adapted from Pete Form's Award winning collection "Dry Rain Stories", Dry Rain takes place over the course of an afternoon in a non-descript lifeless time warp characteristic of America's Heart-land. Stil, a broken man in his early forties, is in a drought. His family, his financial means, and his power to do anything about either, have evaporated and he crosses the line as he desperately, aimlessly, and unrealistically grasps for hope in his past. Stil has stolen away his nine year-old son, Joey, from his ex-wife, Tracy. The question is whether he has taken him on a "vacation", as Stil calls it, across the border into Canada, or has abducted him with the intent to receive a ransom for his return. They've stopped at a phone booth in a tiny middle of nowhere town to call Joey's mom to assure her of his safety and to negotiate his return. As the conversation becomes volatile, Tracy hangs up on Stil and he angrily slams the phone down breaking it in two. Joey picks up the broken phone and speaks into it the empty and hurtful words that he has heard from his father-he is left with what his father has broken. Joey has the finely tuned wit and perception of a nine year-old. He "hears everything" in his par-ent's dysfunctional phone booth conversations, and by repeating it back to his father, he takes the lead in helping Stil face his position of powerlessness, and brings him back to a sad displaced reality. As Stil returns Joey to the U.S. border where he is to be returned to his mother, there is no doubt about the sincerity and affection of this sad, unfulfilled relationship.—Pete Fromm