Touching, well-researched and funny, Lilith Theater San Francisco’s Hick: A Love Story is a one-woman show that explores the long-speculated romance between journalist Lorena Hickok and first lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Hick, which is showing at the New York International Fringe Festival, is directed by Adele Prandini, and stars Terry Baum, who also wrote the play drawing from the letters of Pat Bond's Lorena Hickok and Eleanor Roosevelt: A Love Story.

"If I burn in hell, so be it," Associated Press journalist Lorena Hickok (Terry Baum) declares, referring to her lesbian relationship with the First Lady of the United States of America. The play jumps back and forth in time from 1932-1934, when Hickok's relationship with Roosevelt was in full swing, to 1968, when Hickok was debating whether she should give her thousands of letters from Eleanor Roosevelt (voiced by Paula Barish) to the FDR archives. Although the audience never sees Eleanor (they only hear Barish's voice read the letters Roosevelt wrote), she's very much there in spirit through Baum's expressions and reactions to her letters. Hickok acts like a giddy schoolgirl as she falls completely head over heels for Roosevelt. It's the vivid verbal descriptions, though, that really make the show. At the beginning of their courtship, for example, Hickok describes the urge to reach and hold Eleanor's hand: The audience is put in Hickok's shoes and can remember the type of stream-of-consciousness thoughts that run through someone's head when they're thinking about making a move.

The set design by Vola Ruben is simple, but the attention to detail is phenomenal: Tall pillars with blown-up photos of Roosevelt and Hickok's letters frame the small stage, which is filled with tables, coat racks and typewriters. Old-timey classical music is played during the transitions, courtesy of sound designer Audrey Howard. Baum's energetic performance as Hickok, coupled with nuanced and authentic monologues make the show very worth seeing.