Dream Up Festival - If Words Could Talk

If Words Could Talk
World Premiere

Writer: Jenn Amelia Martin
Director: Stephanie Stowers

Set in a stream-of-consciousness inside the enclosures of Mama’s house, IF WORDS COULD TALK explores the dysfunctional relationship between a mother and her deceased daughter paying a visit with distance through closed-door memories. The play follows a sequence of stages: i. Awakening, ii. Denial, iii. Rage, iv. Bargaining, and v. Acceptance. Mama embarks on cycles of grief that collides with the reimagination of her daughter’s lived past– as Ali grieves for her long-deceased father, Mama grieves for her daughter in a return to the dead and (un)buried.

If Words Could Talk explores themes of communicative collision marking a dreamed life of cohesion, raising the myth of beginning, middle & end in the face of old wounds. Here lies the proof: the circularity of a mother’s love transcends names, faces, and places. If only words could speak for themselves– only then, perhaps grief would bend fiction to break the truth.

Running Time: 30-35 Minutes

Location: Johnson Theater

Buy Tickets