Girl Becomes Bone

***looking for further development***

Girl Becomes Bone is about religion. In the future. In outer space. It’s a human play about the unknown. It’s also about trust, love and believing with every fiber of your existence. Set on a distant future planet where Rainer Maria Rilke’s poem’s Duino Elegies are the seminal religious text, a young woman – also named Rainer - commits to the ultimate...
***looking for further development***

Girl Becomes Bone is about religion. In the future. In outer space. It’s a human play about the unknown. It’s also about trust, love and believing with every fiber of your existence. Set on a distant future planet where Rainer Maria Rilke’s poem’s Duino Elegies are the seminal religious text, a young woman – also named Rainer - commits to the ultimate expression of faith; to return to a dead Earth and audio record reflections on the Elegies while self-mummifying. Rainer’s mother’s own failed attempt twenty-six years prior left her feeling abandoned and betrayed. Will Rainer’s own faithless journey bring her peace or will she too disintegrate into Earth’s dust?
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Girl Becomes Bone

Recommended by

  • Jen Browne:
    10 Jun. 2019
    The world of this play has been carefully constructed and presented. I felt very taken care of moving through and gathering details of this future world still so taken with the old. A poetic exploration of religion, loss, and moving forward.
  • Darcy Parker Bruce:
    6 Apr. 2018
    I love the way Callan's brain works and I love this play. GIRL BECOMES BONE is an expansive and intimate look at a world and its promise left behind. Callan writes characters you invest yourself in, and the language of this play is so lovely and specific and poetic. I love it, and I hope it's read and produced widely.
  • Aeneas Sagar Hemphill:
    28 Feb. 2018
    A meditative, philosophical, space opera. It reminds me of 2001 or Solaris in its use of the genre to reflect back at, or probe the depths of humanity and spirituality.

Character Information

  • Rainer
    about 30 Earth years old,
    Mixed
    ,
    Female
    childhood friend with Emma and Linos, being smart comes easy to her, skeptical and harsh on her friends, because she has high expectations for them, only because she loves them deeply
  • Emma
    30 Earth years old,
    Mixed
    ,
    Female
    childhood friend with Rainer and Linos, rich, spoiled, generous, used to getting what she wants
  • Linos
    about 30 Earth years old,
    Mixed
    ,
    Male
    childhood friend with Emma and Rainer, easy go lucky, was once probably the class clown, but "adulthood" has set in a little
  • Tobias
    over 55 Earth years old,
    Mixed
    ,
    Male
    Rainer's father, a hard worker with a deep sadness in his spirit, but he's good at continuing to go forward
  • Gaspara
    27 Earth years old,
    Mixed
    ,
    Female
    From Quadrant 8, bubbly, kind and unquestioningly dedicated to the religion
  • Guardian
    Over 60 Earth years old,
    Mixed
    ,
    Any
    Care taker on the spaceship, has been secluded from society and has not set foot on solid ground for at least 35 Earth years.
  • Acolyte
    Any Age,
    Mixed
    ,
    Any
    Care taker of the temple in Quadrant 23, facilitates the religious practices, rituals and ceremonies at the temple
  • The Lover
    unknownable,
    Mixed
    ,
    No gender
    A recorded voice and a mummified body on display in the temple in Quadrant 23

Development History

  • Reading
    ,
    Ampersand Theatre Company
    ,
    2019
  • Workshop
    ,
    Pipeline Theatre Company
    ,
    2016