Columbia Center for the Arts Presents Book of Days

May 3

Written By Columbia Community Connection

From Columbia Center for the Arts:

By Cole Goodwin

Hood River, Ore., May 3, 2026 — Columbia Center for the Arts presents Book of Days, the award-winning play by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lanford Wilson, running May 8 through May 23.

Ruth Hoch has landed the role of a lifetime: Joan of Arc in her community theater's production of Saint Joan. Then her boss (the owner of the local cheese factory) turns up dead. Everyone calls it a hunting accident. Ruth isn't so sure. The deeper she digs, the more she finds a town that has decided, collectively and quietly, to leave well enough alone. Neighbors look the other way. Stories don't add up. And Ruth, cast to play a saint who died for telling the truth, has to decide whether she's willing to do the same.

Winner of the American Theater Critics Association Award for Best New Play, Book of Days is among Wilson's most gripping works, a thriller grounded in the rhythms of small-town American life, where the real danger isn't the killer but the silence that protects them.

Critics have taken notice. Variety called it "a significant addition to the Lanford Wilson canon." The Hartford Advocate praised it as a black comedy that "burrows slowly beneath the cheery surface of contemporary American small-town life." The Detroit Free Press has described it simply as: "lively storytelling by one of our best playwrights."

Performance Dates:
Friday, May 8 at 7:00 PM
Saturday, May 9 at 7:00 PM
Sunday, May 10 at 2:00 PM
Friday, May 15 at 7:00 PM
Saturday, May 16 at 7:00 PM
Sunday, May 17 at 2:00 PM
Friday, May 22 at 7:00 PM
Saturday, May 23 at 7:00 PM
Location: Columbia Center for the Arts, 215 Cascade Ave, Hood River, OR 97031

Tickets are on sale now at columbiaarts.org.

About Columbia Center for the Arts
Columbia Center for the Arts (CCA) is a nonprofit in Hood River, Oregon, dedicated to promoting an equitable, accessible, and arts-rich environment in the Columbia Gorge. Guided by a vision of a thriving creative community, CCA connects artists, performers, and audiences through diverse opportunities in visual, performing, and educational arts.