April 6, 2008
By William Hageman
Chicago Tribune
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Q UNLEASHED

Putting it into words

As he watched the Hurricane Katrina aftermath unfold—it was around the first anniversary of his mother's death—Tim Maddock knew he needed to do something.

"I'd been trying to think of a way to honor her memory, plant a tree or something like that," said the 38-year-old Maddock. "Then it just hit me like ton of bricks. Here it is. This is the opportunity. This is something she'd be very proud of."

He packed up his car and drove from California to New Orleans, where he spent 10 days rescuing people's pets. He split his time in New Orleans between going door to door, saving pets that had been left behind, and reuniting animals and people at a facility that had been set up.

He has taken what he saw and did and turned it into a play, "Because They Have No Words." It tells three stories, he said, of animals and their people.

"[The pets] are such a touchstone for people," he said. "I met a family who lost their mother, their business, their home. Everything. And [their lost] dog became the symbol for them. It could all be OK almost if they could hold on to this one thing. Here was this one tangible love they had. ... I experienced this a couple of times, this deep love of animals. They were part of their family."

"Because They Have No Words" opens May 12 at the Piven Theatre Workshop in Evanston.

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