HPU Theater: Where Words Once Were

Where Words Once Were
by Finegan Kruckemeyer

Orhan is a young boy who lives in The City, a place where language has been limited to 1,000 words. Speak or write any words that are not part of The Language and The City silences you: you can no longer speak or write, and no one can speak or write to you. Without language, you fade out of awareness and live an unseen life as a Silenced One. One day, Orhan meets a young girl who has been Silenced and finds himself in the middle of the fight to restore language.

This family-friendly play about “language and its absences” is sure to captivate audiences and spark important conversations about the power of words and expression. Although Kruckemeyer sets his play in a dystopian world, he fills it with joy and warmth as the citizens of The City use word games (such as palindromes, anagrams, and homophones) to convey how they feel or to fight against the status quo. After all, the words may have been erased but their power has not been forgotten.