Shanawdithit describes the last days of her family as they were pushed from their land and then hunted. She asks Cormack not to speak of their death, but of their life. Cormack is ecstatic and gets lost in the memories Shanawdithit paints. She breaks his reverie with the cold fact that the life she speaks of will never happen again. She colla...

A businessman is waiting for a streetcar, with his back to an unhoused woman. The two silently judge each other. The man is annoyed at seeing someone who wants something for nothing, and the woman is feeling judged for a situation she has no control over. The two finally acknowledge each other, and we discover their shared experience.

The taking of Demasduit weighs heavy on Shanawdithit’s heart. Cormack, unsure of what to do, tries to comfort her, saying Demasduit was treated well. Shawnadithit asks if white people actually care about her people, her story, because Cormack’s words are betrayed by the actions of his fellows, and indeed, his own. Cormack insists he will ensu...

Cormack’s study in St. John’s, now Shanawdithit’s room. “Nancy April” reveals she can speak English quite well, and tells Cormack her real name: Shanawdithit. Cormack asks her where the rest of her people are, where her home is. Shanawdithit says simply: they are no more. Shanawdithit reflects on the loss of her people and the taking of her a...

Cormack meets Shanawdithit for the first time. She’s been working as a servant for Peyton for five years under the colonial name of Nancy April. Cormack is awed; he believes this woman is the last of the Beothuk. Peyton gives her to him, saying she’s useless.

Shanawdithit reprimands Cormack for his saviour complex.

Cormack presents his findings about Shanawdithit to the members of the Beothuk institute.

Shanawdithit, dying, speaks to her ancestors. She is ready to leave this world.

Medusa sings from beyond the grave, reaching out to her children and her two sisters. She tells the story of her rape by the god Poseidon and murder by the hero Perseus. 

Pegasus recounts a dream in which their mother Medusa asks them to find her severed head. They reflect on the harrowing circumstances of their birth and their relationship with their brother Chrysaor and father Poseidon.

Sydney on her first day at the zoo. Frightened and alone, she thinks of her homeland.

Sydney is injured in a fire and sold to the zoo.

James and Sydney start their journey. Sydney remembers being young and playing in the forest with her friend Penny. One day, they are both captured, and the family herd is shot.

Janna and her grandpa are in Toronto’s distillery district. Before she has to leave, Janna asks him to tell the story of how he and Grandma met.

Her health fading, Shanawdithit wonders if she’ll be welcomed into the spirit world after so much time with the colonists. Cormack tells her he must leave, and Shanawdithit gives him a sketch of his house to carry with him. He leaves the room to pack. Shanawdithit hears the spirits of her people calling her name. It is time. One spirit in par...

2003: After leaking torture photos to the internet, American army translator Alessandra Jenson refuses to be hushed up, and live streams her suicide in protest.

Daniel sings of his fear at the prospect of going down into the cellar of his childhood home, after his father has died.

Judith sings angrily at her brother when he expresses his desire to leave their childhood home after their father has died.

Back in his childhood home after the death of this father, Daniel kills his sister when she wants to resume their childhood sexual relationship.

A teacher tries to inspire and distract a student as soldiers march outside their classroom, but the student is unable to escape into her imagination.

An intersex woman wins a gold medal, but her struggles to get there mean nothing to the organization and the other athletes. She’s disqualified and shamed.

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 se...

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.

A Gardener, lost in the wilderness, ends up at Madonna's cabin. She recognizes him as the man in her dreams and vows to heal him of his grief.

In pain after being raped by Tassi, Artemisia tries to understand what just happened, while Tassi justifies himself.

A night out celebrating midterms takes a turn when one student doesn't return.

Traumatized by her experiences, Alessandra reflects on her work as a translator in an American military prison.

Colonel Crane, Alessandra's supervisor, tersely tells her to lose what her perceives as her naive sense of morality: "We are just here to win."

Hungover, walking home the morning after the party, Mindy remembers disturbing images from the night before - she isn't sure exactly what happened.

The couple continues to mourn.

A couple is trying to come to terms with the loss of their daughter. They grieve, and fight with one another.

M'dea tries once more to get Jason to stay with her, but he believes he will never forget his war crimes if she is in his life. M'dea eventually agrees to go back to her country.

In a dream state, M'dea recalls all she has done to survive.

M'dea and Jason commit to loving each other and helping each other recover from the war and memories that haunt them.

A mother and son have dinner. The mother is suffering from Alzheimer’s, and her son has increasing difficulty coping with that fact.

Heather and Mindy share a moment of intimacy as they discuss their experiences of sexual violence.

Mindy tries to understand if she was raped at the party. She can't make herself contact anyone, but seeks information online; Cindy slips a morning after pill under the door.

Someone has posted pictures of Mindy at the party with different men. Mindy, Cindy, and Tyler argue about who is to blame. Cindy and Tyler depart angry, leaving Mindy sitting alone on her bed.

Mindy plugs in her phone, which died at the party. It comes alive with a constant stream of texts from Tyler and Cindy from the night before, who were both worried about her. Mindy rushes to the bathroom to throw up.

Duet between the woman and a violin, symbolizing her daughter.

Lucifer rebuilds the cage, then tries to convince the audience to join him in self-exile.

Lucifer is enraged at the unfairness put upon him. The Child sees, and has an idea. Perhaps the system should be broken. When Lucifer realizes the Child has seen his truth, he tries to hide his emotions.

A distraught woman is trying to report her sexual assault to a policeman. She admits she’s had some alcohol. Instead of pursuing justice, the policeman arrests her for illegal possession of alcohol. The Child witnesses all of it.

A book pleads with the audience to be read. A rhythmic chorus rises. A tribute to the banned, the burned, and the hidden.

A cleric prepares for confessional. Someone enters the booth. The cleric realizes it’s a man with whom he shared a mutual attraction. The man has recently finished gay conversion therapy and wishes to resume some kind of a relationship.

An interrogator turns his lurid eyes on an imprisoned female activist. Purposefully misunderstanding her movements as seduction, he convinces himself of something horrid.

Henson helps Minik reach the land of the dead; Peary and Josephine argue about Peary's Inuit children.

Minik remembers Greenland.

Josephine asks for Henson's help, despite Peary's past bad treatment of him.

A dying father and his son drink their last bowl of water. They need oil for the machines that will keep them alive and purify their water. A truck rolls past with a huge barrel of oil in the back. The son flags it down, only to discover the person driving the truck is a monstrous creature from the nation they’re at war with.

On the Albanian coast the women captives wait for the boat to Italy. Oksana is still defiant, trying to figure out an escape for herself and others. The boat and Konstantin arrive, and Oksana fails to convince him to free her and Natalyia.

Tabitha helps her father Ken, who has had a stroke. She combs his hair and helps him with his therapy ball, retrieving it each time he drops it.

Having escaped forced confinment in a basement, a girl approaches a stranger. She asks if the stranger knows her, as she tries to remember her past.

Sofiya and Yuri consult Asa when Oksana has not arrived as her lettered promised. They are interrupted by Pavlo with news that the priest from Italy is on the phone, and wants to talk to Oksana's parents.

Konstantin breaks into Oksana's room and tries to convince her to leave with him. When this fails, he tries to rape her again but she stabs him. He gets the knife and stabs her before he dies. Father Alexander returns and Oksana dies of her wound, dreaming of home.

Father Alexander discovers the distress call was a set by Konstantin, but Dima decides he can't beat up a priest and lets Father Alexander go back to Brindisi where Konstantin is.

On the eve of Oksana's departure, Father Alexander has to go to pick up another woman in distress. He leaves his knife with Oksana because she is afraid Konstantin will show up. Lyuba and Oksana say their goodbyes.

Refugees are trying on clothes, when Dima and Konstantin enter looking for Oksana. Konstantin offers Father Alexander money for Oksana and Clara calls the police; Konstantin and Dima leave before the police arrive.

Father Alexander and Oksana realize they share an attraction for each other, but Oksana is determined to go home and tell her parents what has happened. Konstantin phones the refuge to get Oksana back.

Screaming, Oksana awakens from a nightmare; Father Alexander comes to her and she admits she may have let Natalyia drown to save herself. The Father counsels forgiveness of herself and others, but Oksana is not convinced that is possible.

Brindisi refugee shelter: Father Alexander and social worker Clara work with the refugees. An injured Oksana arrives and asks for help; Lyubia, who escaped when the boat docked, is among the refugees and recognizes Oksana.

Hector and Isabelle express their resentment towards each other for the sacrifices they each made.

In Greece at a bar, three women are held captive: Konstantin sends Lyubia with a businessman, Natalyia with the Immigration officer who cuts her, and Oksana is bought by Konstantin at auction. Konstantin then offers to the crowd a gang rape just as the police arrive to raid the bar. Instead, he escapes with Oksana and Natalyia.

In a forest in Romania, Oksana discovers she has been tricked and is now in danger. Konstantin and his partners rape Oksana & Natalyia.

Ray and Sophie sing an intimate duet as they reconnect and reconcile.

Sophie, the manifestation of Ray's soul sings an extended aria explaining how she has been locked away from Ray since he was a child.

Sophie, the manifestation of Ray's soul sings an extended aria explaining how she has been locked away from Ray since he was a child.

Ray frantically tries to calm himself by reciting scientific jargon, while a being claiming to be his own child self tries to open the door.

Ray sings of the ambivalence his parents felt towards him as a child.

As Sophie runs a bath in the distance, Ray reflects on how uncomfortable bathing makes him feel.

Ray, a jaded neurosurgeon, muses on the loss of his childhood wonder and innocence.