WHAT THE MOON SAW

or "I Only Appear to Be Dead"
a play with songs
inspired by Hans Christian Andersen
and his tales, set in a post 9-11 world
 

A kaleidoscopic meditation on how we move through calamity, this collection of interlocking contemporary urban riffs on Andersen’s classic fairytales explores  9/11 and its repercussions via a mix of the impossible and the everyday.  

A bucket brigade of firemen shovels rubble from the site of the disaster as a shadowy girl lights matches. A fickle mermaid finds herself marooned on dry land. A dancing girl travels south, carrying her beloved tin soldier’s lizard to safety. A bear dreams of a melting heart as a radio reporter makes the rounds, interviewing citizens about what they were doing when the moon fell. Journeying through this surreal post-9/11 landscape is Hans Christian Andersen himself, on his way to Shanghai to celebrate his 200th birthday—only to be haunted by the detritus of his own tales along the way. 

Inspired by Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid,” “The Steadfast Tin Soldier,” “The Little Matchgirl,” “The Snow Queen” and his lesser known “What the Moon Saw.”
 

production

premiere: Son of Semele Ensemble, L.A., 2011
directed by Matt McCray
music by Daniel Corral
 

development

• reading, Mint Theater, NYC, September 11, 2011, on the 10-year anniversary of 9/11
• workshop: Chapman College, 2006
• Interart Development series, NYC, 2002
   directed by Melissa Kievman, Katie Pearl, Josh Carlebach, Ian Belton
   with Mia Barron, Jesse Perez, Marin Ireland, Greg Steinbruner
• Lincoln Center Director’s Lab/HERE Arts Center, 2002
   directed by Susanna Gellert, music by Brendan Connolly


[CAST: 7–14]


honors

• Risky play: Cutting Ball Theater, 2003
• Honorable Mention, Bay Area Playwrights Festival

 
A collection of interlocking contemporary urban riffs on Hans Christian Andersen’s classic fairytales, "What the Moon Saw" explores the catastrophic events of 9/11 and their repercussions via metaphor and an idiosyncratic mix of the impossible and the everyday. This kaleidoscopic meditation on how we move through calamity is inspired by Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid,” “The Steadfast Tin Soldier,” “The Little Matchgirl,” “The Snow Queen” and his lesser known “What the Moon Saw.” A bucket brigade of firemen shovels rubble from the site of the disaster as a shadowy girl lights matches. A fickle mermaid finds herself marooned on dry land. A dancing girl travels south, carrying her beloved tin soldier’s lizard to safety. And a bear dreams of a melting heart as a radio reporter makes the rounds, interviewing citizens about what they were doing when the moon fell. Everybody has a story to tell. Journeying through this surreal post 9/11 landscape is Hans Christian Andersen himself (HC), who touches down on his way to Shanghai just before his 200th birthday only to find himself hurtling across the country from Los Angeles to New York, haunted by the detritus of his own tales along the way. The award-winning theatre company Son of Semele Ensemble (SOSE) presents the world premiere of "What The Moon Saw, or 'I Only Appear To Be Dead'" by Stephanie Fleischmann, playing at the Son of Semele Theater in Silver Lake from September 9 through October 9, 2011, in a production scheduled to commemorate the 10-year anniversary of 9/11.
 
 
“I am the moon—
I am full
I am slight
Seems my light is so fright-
fully dim tonight

I am the moon—
I am faint
I am strong
I am here in the sky
Hanging out to dry
See me
See me”