After living in the secluded Florida woods for eight years with only her overprotective father and pet rabbit Robyn, 20-year-old Esther Harris longs to be reunited with her long-lost mother. Meanwhile, only miles away, Diana Baines gathers with her community to mourn the loss of her young daughter, Neoma. When Esther’s father kills her beloved Robyn, she flees from their cabin and returns to her hometown, turning Diana’s grief on its head. Soon, their lives collide as Esther learns more and more of how everyone around her has moved on in her absence. And as she is haunted by a mysterious figure from her past, Esther fights to reclaim her space and identity in her old home.

A play in four parts interwoven with a children’s fable, Absentia explores loss, trauma, motherhood, and the boundaries of hope in the face of a seemingly impossible situation. 

Absentia is the winner of the 2020 Jane Chambers Student Playwriting Award and is a 2022 Wayward Voices Panel Favorite.

(5 Actors: 3W; 2M)