The Ferryman’s Daughter, Short Synopsis
How much of our present is our past? Pondering that question, the play shifts between
the present and 1532, the mystical and the material. In the present, when climate activist Kate
travels to the German North Sea to photograph sea life, she encounters more than she expected:
the white supremacist uncle who spurned her Iranian mother, a handsome Jewish artist who
paints dike breaks, and, in human guise, two ancient water spirits who compete for her
success/destruction. Why does Kate, a marine biologist, fear the sea? And who is the girl in
wooden shoes who appears in her visions? Driven to find answers, Kate discovers they’re only to
be had if she can embrace both the present and the past.

The Ferryman's Daughter, One-page Synopsis
The play opens in 2022 in a North Frisian marsh. Frau Diep, a water spirit and seer, laments her vision of climate change. Her former lover, Herr Hans (the North Sea) gloats: sea rise adds to his power. Diep’s vision shifts to a ship carrying climate activist Kate, a marine biologist. In 1532, Diep knew her as Sibbrich, the ferryman’s daughter. Hans vows to track Kate.
In the U.S., Kate packs for a voyage that charts species habitat in the North Sea and sails from North Frisia. Sheida, Kate’s Iranian-American mother, believes she was a merchant there in the 1500s and knew Kate then. Harro, Kate’s late father’s twin, lives there now; Sheida tells Kate to find him. A white supremacist, Harro broke with them when Kate’s father married Sheida.

Arriving in Germany, Kate meets Harro; politics aside, she’s drawn to him. He tells her of a ferryman ancestor, Marten, and his son, Peter. The action shifts to 1532, and Marten and Peter set their seals to a loan from a rich merchant. Left outside, Marten’s daughter Sibbrich gets to know Frau Diep. In the present, Kate falls in love with Ari, a painter and therapist (who hides he's working for Hans), and she’s transfixed by his painting of a 1532 dike break. Ari and Kate visit Diep in her marsh and learn about Marten’s ferry. Before Kate leaves on her voyage, her neck aches from an old injury. When Ari performs craniosacral therapy on Kate, she has a past life recall—and sees Sibbrich drowning.
In Act II, Kate is back from her voyage, and at her Kate’s insistence, Sheida flies over to confront Harro about his racism. Kate locates the old loan document; when she touches it, she sees Marten and Peter sailing with Sibbrich. In 1532, Sibbrich is swept away in the flood; in 2022, when Harro takes Kate sailing, Ari informs Herr Hans, who raises a storm. Harro falls overboard, Kate masters her fear of drowning and tries to save him, and Ari brings Diep to the rescue. As Kate reckons with Ari’s role in the ordeal, a soul group reunites. Rejuvenated, Diep dances with Hans—for now, put in his place.