The Eleventh Star

by Brynn Hambley

The Eleventh Star follows two generations of women in a non-linear fashion as they deal with their depression and mental illness, while hopefully finding more healthy ways to cope. A no-holds-barred exploration of the various ways that depression can creep into a person's life, this piece dives deep into genetics, environments, relationships, and unhealthy coping mechanisms that often cause or perpetuate...

The Eleventh Star follows two generations of women in a non-linear fashion as they deal with their depression and mental illness, while hopefully finding more healthy ways to cope. A no-holds-barred exploration of the various ways that depression can creep into a person's life, this piece dives deep into genetics, environments, relationships, and unhealthy coping mechanisms that often cause or perpetuate depression in modern day life. In the end,The Eleventh Star strives to show that with hope and love recovery is possible. Inspired by Mieko Shiomi's "Star Piece".

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The Eleventh Star

Recommended by

  • Dan West: The Eleventh Star by Brynn Hambley
    “

    An exceptionally written play about depression, addiction, and self-harm. It articulates the pain and depth of lifelong, generational depression as well as anything that I have ever read. The four featured women are deep and insightful and complex as they deal with being trapped living in a world that the they never asked to be in or of. Heart-wrenching and beautiful, but ending with a sense of hope.

    An exceptionally written play about depression, addiction, and self-harm. It articulates the pain and depth of lifelong, generational depression as well as anything that I have ever read. The four featured women are deep and insightful and complex as they deal with being trapped living in a world that the they never asked to be in or of. Heart-wrenching and beautiful, but ending with a sense of hope.

    ”
  • Eliza Jaye Kuperschmid: The Eleventh Star by Brynn Hambley
    “

    How I long to sit in a theater stargazing while human constellations flicker in front of me. This is the cosmic landscape that Brynn paints in this work, which asks: who might I be without my “issues”? Without my body? Without my soul? With an intentional and caring hand, through ritual and soul-bearing testimony, Brynn has created characters that are in a way elevated from their bodies and planes of existence and instead rendered cosmic energies wishing to break free. It’s an opportunity to wonder, to be heard. It’s pure stardust.

    How I long to sit in a theater stargazing while human constellations flicker in front of me. This is the cosmic landscape that Brynn paints in this work, which asks: who might I be without my “issues”? Without my body? Without my soul? With an intentional and caring hand, through ritual and soul-bearing testimony, Brynn has created characters that are in a way elevated from their bodies and planes of existence and instead rendered cosmic energies wishing to break free. It’s an opportunity to wonder, to be heard. It’s pure stardust.

    ”
  • Enid Brain: The Eleventh Star by Brynn Hambley
    “

    Beautiful, lived in, visceral, and abstract. This is what theatre should be. A masterpiece.

    Beautiful, lived in, visceral, and abstract. This is what theatre should be. A masterpiece.

    ”
View all 5 recommendations
MAMA -- mother to ANIMA. It’s been a long time, but she’s finally trying to address the burden she’s always carried.

DR. (ROSALIND) CUDDY -- friend/therapist/ and/or mentor to MAMA. Facing some problems of her own...but when you’re always the one helping, how do you seek help for yourself?

ANIMA -- floating through time. Sometimes sixteen, sometimes thirty, sometimes twenty two, etc., we see her at various stages throughout her journey through personhood and healing.

KORA -- flighty, dreamy, fucked up, an addict, but trying so hard to be there.

MELLIE -- a good friend; the best friend a girl could ask for.

Development History

  • Workshop, Cut Edge Collective, 2021