HERE I FALL UP

here i fall up, or ( ! ), is a new musical folktale

about a girl navigating her relationships with her sisters, her lover, the earth, and a ghost. With music pulling from folk and jazz, this piece is performed by five actors to play a Girl, her Friend, and her Sisters/Storytellers.

In an abandoned house on a cold shore, a Girl hides from her rambunctious sisters to dream up stories for the weathered walls. When she meets the Friend, she experiences her first love, and invites them into her imaginative worlds. But the Friend hears whispers in the walls. The Girl never thought much of these, but the Friend can’t rest until they know what (or who) they are. The Friend becomes too terrified to stay, but the Girl is too attached to leave. 

When the Friend leaves, the Ghost reveals herself to the Girl. They become close, so close that now the Girl never goes home. She devotes her days to completing tasks to break a curse on the Ghost and free her. However, when all of the tasks are complete, the Girl becomes trapped in the house in place of the ghost, and must dig her way out of the collapsing mud underneath.

Inspired by folk stories from many different cultures, the world of this piece is hazy and gloaming, humming with more magic than our own. The air is cold but the people are warm.

In 2019, this piece was first developed as a devised student project at Playwrights Horizons Theater School. In 2021, a concert of this piece was presented as part of PRIDEFEST! at The Tank. In 2023, this piece was presented as part of the final ICE Factory at the New Ohio Theatre.