WALDEN, set in the near future, is such a rich and impactful story that it is difficult to sum up quickly. Practically, it is the near future, climate change is devastating the planet, and twin sisters Stella and Cassie are reuniting after Cassie returns from being on the moon for a long stretch. There are two factions on Earth - those who are fighting to heal the planet and those who feel establishing livable communities on the moon and Mars are the only way to save the future of humanity.

Emotionally, my oversimplified summary glides over the delightful nuances that dance through the play. Space and climate change are only the back drop for a complicated family drama - two brilliant sisters torn by their similarities and their differences; torn by Stella’s fiancé entering the scene  - a fiancé who is an earth advocate and who doesn’t believe in the NASA missions the sisters spent their lives devoted to solving. 

My heart ached as I read through the intimate subtleties that present in a close sister dynamic - the accidental pains caused by someone who knows you all too well. My heart also burst with joy when the love between sisters explodes on the page in a way that is too big to contain.

Much to Cassie’s disdain, Stella eventually explains the feeling of meeting her fiancé, who was so very different from her and all of her beliefs, and yet he fit into her soul in a way where life felt completely different but completely right. It is so complicated when those closest to us have to accept the way we evolve. 

The play is loaded with universally relatable concepts that are all nearly impossible to express through words, and yet Berryman succeeds masterfully and economically. There is not a wasted word nor a word missing.

This play will challenge you no matter what side of a political fence you sit on. It will shake you up internally and it might shake loose some new thoughts and feelings. 

No one way is perfect. No one belief is perfect. There is a little bit of right and a little bit of wrong in all the ways and Berryman paints the most beautiful dance of perfectly imperfect ideas as each moment unfolds with cutting precision. 

Life is messy. Love is messy. Humanity is messy and that is exactly what makes us human. 

Reading this play made me feel so lucky to have a sister I love dearly, a family I love dearly, a husband I love dearly, and a planet that I love dearly. 

It is a love letter to our planet, and to all of us who hope to protect it. It is a story that shows the many shapes of hope.