Sometimes horrible things happen and we don't really know the reason. That's the heartbreaking situation Jane is trying to work through as she tracks down her old boyfriend (from 20 years ago) to find out why he broke up with her. An odd action, you'd think, until you realise that the closure she seeks is something a lot of people seek when something awful happens for apparently no reason. In that sense, Cassie has constructed a great snapshot of human condition and how we respond to grief. Its an emotionally provocative piece that would make a powerful performance.

This intensely involving short piece speaks eloquently of the primacy of human grief. At first, the two central losses at the core of the protagonist’s grief seem unconnected, yet through Jane’s process we understand exactly what these disparate moments mean to her and why both are relevant on the continuum of loss that she is trying to understand. Her monologue near the end is raw and simply heart-breaking. A potent short play.

There is something incredibly ‘human’, for lack of a better word, about Cassie M. Seinuk’s MISPLACED. At the core of this play is pain and loss: and yet it is surrounded by a beautiful ‘humaness’, as two adults who once knew each other work their way through a gauntlet of emotions - anger, surprise, regret, sadness, laughter - to come together anew. I’m so glad I was able to see this performed as part of Boston Theater Marathon XXII, Zoom Edition, 2020.