Erica is angry with Keith for having an anxiety attack as they host a party together.

A young woman, Laurel, runs through a dark forest, filled with anxiety and haunted by disturbing memories.

Laurel stabs the Stranger, killing him. As his body slides to the ground to rest at her feet, she begins to feel a new sense of freedom, not realising that it is at the cost of her conscience and her humanity. The aria should be performed with an improvisational blues quality over the regular pulse of the accompaniment, to convey both this sense...

In a wooded park at night, it seems like Laurel is running for her life- but it turns out she is running from the memory of the murder she committed that night.

Simone describes her postpartum depression and wonders how it is that she cannot love her own child.

Akakiy reveals his fascination with numbers, and the chorus announces they’ll help keep track of things. His landlady enters to bring him some cabbage soup- and something more, which he refuses.

After rushing to work, Akakiy is bullied by his coworkers. He’s too good at his job, and it’s making the rest of them look bad.

Petrovich declares Akakiy’s coat is completely unfixable, but also that this is the chance for Akakiy to choose something new. Of course, he’ll have to pay.

Akakiy gets caught in rush hour and arrives late to find the head the department telling a sad story about encountering a homeless vagrant. Annoyed at being interrupted, the head of the department grills Akakiy on his little notebook of numbers. Akakiy explains he was using it to find ways to save money, which gives the head an idea. He’ll cut c...

Measuring Akakiy becomes a ballet of awkwardness. Petrovich and his wife muse on what really makes a man: how he appears.

The name day party. Everyone is dressed to the nines, but Akakiy adds up to at least an eleven. They fawn over his coat, going so far as to toast to it. Akakiy forgets to count his drinks, and ends up completely drunk. He gets lost on the way home, winding up in the rough part of town. Akakiy asks two men for directions, but instead, they knock ...

After days of near catatonia in his cold apartment, the landlady asks Petrovich to repair Akakiy’s old coat, to no avail. Even his coworkers arrive to check in, but by then, Akakiy is unreachable. Akakiy is committed to a mental hospital. Once he arrives, the other residents encourage him to look at things a little differently. It turns out he h...

Paul is being interviewed about his missing parents. Is Paul a suspect? Is the interrogator a police officer or a psychiatrist? Who were the people who were in his parents' house when Paul returned from his trip? All is not as it seems.

A mother with postpartum depression leaves her husband and son.