It’s 2003. Fourteen year-old Cleo and Bea are twins. Cleo can’t stop running away from womanhood. Bea can’t stop running away, period. When we don’t have the words for what we’re becoming, we make up myths instead. A play about gender identity, dysphoria, twins, and monsters in the age of AOL.
Love Letters is the first musical play written by an autistic nonspeaker. Its author, 19-year-old award-winning poet, Sofia Ghassaei, has difficulty controlling her speech and body movements due to apraxia, and had no reliable means of communication until age thirteen, when she learned to share her thoughts by pointing to letters on a letterboard. Her one-act play is augmented with original songs by herself and autistic nonspeakers. Two autistic nonspeakers, Melody and Luke, fall in love via email, only to struggle with sensory realities when they meet in person. Love Letters is a universal story of first love - found and lost – and of expectations not matching reality. Five (speaking) actors conjure the world of autistic nonspeakers and their communication aides. The actors playing the aides double as nonspeakers for some songs. With an informal coffee house vibe, performers at times use direct address and may play an instrument.
When Arizona reveals to Claire that her sister is a mermaid, they totally have to break out of the psych ward to go find her! Through road trips and ren faires, convenience stores and border patrol, Arizona and Claire reveal what it means to get better, get worse, and do it all together.
