The Main Characters
DRY's protagonist Kate, a wife and a mother in her mid to late 30s, prides herself on her appearance, social graces and solid Old Money background. Though she works hard at her job as first lady of Vancouver, everything in Kate's life has come easy. She is a woman who lunches and depends on her nanny, Carmen, to run the household while she spa-hops between yoga classes. But when pandemonium breaks out in Vancouver and Carmen flees, Kate transforms from a passive socialite to a mother bear determined to protect her family at any cost. Her husband abandons her and her kids just when they need him most, forcing Kate to question everything she once believed in to find an inner strength she never knew she had.
Grant, the mayor of Vancouver, is a minor character. His career and ego come first, and as such, he is a metaphor for the collapse of society and our addiction to progress at all costs.
Kate is accompanied on her trek by her two sons, Kyle (17), and Taylor (7). The youngest son is a vehicle to reveal exposition in an elegant manner. He asks the obvious questions that the audience wants to know. Kyle is the eldest child and was the result of a previous marriage. He has considerable animosity toward his stepfather and blames his mother for breaking up the previous family. The disaster in DRY brings Kyle closer to his mother. He is forced to become the man of the family. Kyle also feels a certain urgency about his budding sexuality accelerated by the oil crisis.
At the end of act one, Kate decides to join Ivan on their trek out of town. Kyle recognizes Ivan, his old math teacher, on the chaotic platform for the West Coast Express commuter train. He is a nebbish, forty-something dystopic survivalist who happily lives off the grid and seems almost elated about the collapse of society. A social misfit, he transforms through the course of DRY, as he comes to realize his need to cooperate and connect with others.
Along the way, Kate and her gang encounter the Old Man with the beagle who, depending on your state of mind, stands in for the Greek chorus or the Grim Reaper.