The PlayFinder™

THE STORY: Joanna’s Air Force husband has a new command in England, and the transfer has taken its toll on Joanna’s state of mind. One night she feels an unusual presence in the sky, which soon becomes connected to two other mysterious sky sightings: Julie, a local woman, claims to have had an encounter with fairies; and Charlie, an airman under the command of Joanna’s husband, reports having seen a bright, metallic disc take off in the woods and flash across the night sky. Joanna befriends both Julie and Charlie and becomes involved in their lives as the outside world begins to learn of their alleged encounters. Prosper Blondlot, a flamboyant paranormalist, arrives to capitalize on Julie’s experience, while Karla Banning, a government debunker, attempts to quash Charlie’s story. Caught up in a battle between “faith” and “skepticism,” and torn between her own beliefs and doubts, Joanna finds herself becoming alienated from her unsympathetic husband. Other lives also begin to fray, as Julie’s husband moves to take custody of their child, and Charlie’s military standing is threatened by his refusal to cooperate with Karla Banning. When new information further obscures the truth about the entire affair, Joanna turns in desperation to Prosper for answers to her deeply troubling questions. She begins to find her way out of the darkness when she decides to leave her husband and to help Julie and her son escape his father. As the play ends, the two women find themselves at Avebury Monument, a centuries-old stone circle that testifies to the ever-present human search for a connection to the great unknown.