Falling Down the Mountain of Great Storms

by Greg Romero

FULL-LENGTH: The building you are sitting in right now is situated on top of a fault line. Did you know that? Audra, a young Cajun, fights through the catastrophes, trying to heal herself, breaking all the cycles, breaking everything. Lanette tells the story of Skywoman by candlelight. A Great Blue Heron pulls fish from the Atchafalaya while Hedgehog rips a branch from a dogwood tree. Barry works on his dancing...

FULL-LENGTH: The building you are sitting in right now is situated on top of a fault line. Did you know that? Audra, a young Cajun, fights through the catastrophes, trying to heal herself, breaking all the cycles, breaking everything. Lanette tells the story of Skywoman by candlelight. A Great Blue Heron pulls fish from the Atchafalaya while Hedgehog rips a branch from a dogwood tree. Barry works on his dancing thirty seconds at a time, trying to win. And Fox brings us all outside to plant actual seeds in the actual ground, where everything is moving.

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Falling Down the Mountain of Great Storms

Recommended by

  • Kristi Good: Falling Down the Mountain of Great Storms

    Romero’s play is gorgeously poetic in how it weaves together the natural world with the tangible pain of the characters who inhabit it. Romero treats trauma with such exquisite care and artistry, offering the chaos and intensity of the natural world as symbolism for their internal struggles. Part magical realism, part eco-drama, all riveting.

    Romero’s play is gorgeously poetic in how it weaves together the natural world with the tangible pain of the characters who inhabit it. Romero treats trauma with such exquisite care and artistry, offering the chaos and intensity of the natural world as symbolism for their internal struggles. Part magical realism, part eco-drama, all riveting.

  • Ashley Rose Wellman: Falling Down the Mountain of Great Storms

    This is a beautiful, visceral, metamorphic play.

    It masterfully weaves together the storylines of humans, animals, and human-animals with a truly poignant love story about healing and the transformative nature of disaster, catastrophe, and the worst things that happen to us.

    Romero always knows when to be expansive with language in well-crafted, gut-wrenching monologues, and when to be spare, in the frightening, heartbreaking scenes that precede cataclysm.

    The final moments of this piece are vibrant, cathartic, and left me weeping. I truly hope theatres will produce this brilliant play...

    This is a beautiful, visceral, metamorphic play.

    It masterfully weaves together the storylines of humans, animals, and human-animals with a truly poignant love story about healing and the transformative nature of disaster, catastrophe, and the worst things that happen to us.

    Romero always knows when to be expansive with language in well-crafted, gut-wrenching monologues, and when to be spare, in the frightening, heartbreaking scenes that precede cataclysm.

    The final moments of this piece are vibrant, cathartic, and left me weeping. I truly hope theatres will produce this brilliant play about the aftermath of trauma, hope, people, and shelter.

  • Scott Sickles: Falling Down the Mountain of Great Storms

    I don't always do well with heavily symbolic / avant-garde plays, but this play takes you by the hands, looks you in the eye, and says "trust me and I will show you the horrors and wonders of the world and the heart."

    The visually poetic nonverbal animal storylines provide stirring counterpoint to a delicate, complex, human story, each grounding and elevating the other. Their converge is profound and literally catalysmic.

    I saw a reading at the Valdez Theatre Conference with a full soundscape by Mike Vernusky. Extraordinary.

    I don't always do well with heavily symbolic / avant-garde plays, but this play takes you by the hands, looks you in the eye, and says "trust me and I will show you the horrors and wonders of the world and the heart."

    The visually poetic nonverbal animal storylines provide stirring counterpoint to a delicate, complex, human story, each grounding and elevating the other. Their converge is profound and literally catalysmic.

    I saw a reading at the Valdez Theatre Conference with a full soundscape by Mike Vernusky. Extraordinary.

Character Information

  • Audra
    Character Age
    mid 20s
    Character Race/Ethnic Identity
    Cajun
    Character Gender Identity
    Female
  • Barry
    Character Age
    mid 20s
    Character Gender Identity
    Male
  • Lanette
    Audra's mother.
    Character Age
    late 40s/early 50s
    Character Race/Ethnic Identity
    Cajun
    Character Gender Identity
    Female
  • Hedgehog
    Character Age
    late 20s/late 30s
    Character Gender Identity
    Male
  • Fox
    Character Gender Identity
    Female
  • Heron
    Might be a puppet.
    Character Gender Identity
    Female
  • Heron Chick
    Might be a puppet.
    Character Gender Identity
    Female

Development History

  • Type Reading, Organization Valdez Theater Conference (Valdez AK), Year 2023
  • Type Reading, Organization University of Louisiana-Lafayette (Lafayette LA), Year 2023
  • Type Reading, Organization Permafrost Theatre Collective (New York NY), Year 2020
  • Type Reading, Organization Hyde Park Theatre (Austin TX), Year 2020

Awards