In a small town in Poland, 1871, a girl is born to two ill-fated Jewish lovers who discover that their families are tragically intertwined. The girl is sent away to live in the city, and will go on to be the matriarch of the playwright's own family tree. Part One of the "Rachel Trilogy," the story outlines the fraught origins of a family's spiritual center.

"Mysticism, or, A Suitcase Holds Only What You Packed" -- In November 1923, Berlin is gripped by devastating inflation. A Jewish family's chocolate business is in ruin, and a young woman makes a sinister pact with sultry shedim (demons) to ensure prosperity for her mother, herself, and her three brothers. The boys ultimately betray her, setting off for far-flung places around the globe, and leave her to reckon with the familial ghosts she's disturbed. Part Three of the "Rachel Trilogy," the story sees a family's matriarch make peace with decisions necessary to keep the family tree alive, and a new generation grapple with the practical implications of diaspora.

Outside a major city in Texas, Moishe is doing his bar mitzvah project at a dog shelter. The shelter coordinator likes that he follows the rules, and his parents like having time to themselves. But, when the family dog gets sick and they seek the shelter's unethical end-of-life services, Moishe stands up to the adults in his life and callously intervenes in a system which he perceives as particularly cruel. A play about religious duty, kink, institutional operation, and how taking matters into one's own hands sometimes isn't the best choice.