A tragedy about fiction. Both the kind we read and the kind we live."

- The New York Times

In this intimate drama we meet Yale creative writing professor Bella Lee Baird and her prodigy misfit student Christopher Dunn. Bella has recently been diagnosed with stage two cancer and as she directly addresses the audience we slowly learn about her unconventional choices regarding her treatment decisions. The two grow closer as Bella helps Christopher with his novel that eerily mirrors Christopher’s life. Christopher seeks mentorship while Bella seeks something of her own, something she desperately wants to ask. Nominated for six 2020 Tony Awards, including Best Play.

Run time: 99 minutes, no intermission

Tickets start at $20! Please note, there will be no intermission for this production. View our digital playbill here!

We are ecstatic to announce we will host two in-person post-show discussions for this production: Friday, January 21, and Saturday, February 5. If your tickets are for a night that does not have a talkback, we encourage you to return to the theatre for this experience.

THE SOUND INSIDE Webinar Talkback

We hosted a virtual post-show discussion, on Wednesday, January 26. Go deeper with cast members Mikah Conway and Diana Dresser, with Director Sabin Epstein, joined by Producing Artistic Director Chip Walton. Please enjoy and learn from the virtual post-show discussion here below. *The webinar recording contains spoilers of the performance!

Dates & Times

DateTimeAdditional Information

Cancer: How-To Cope Following a Diagnosis by Dr. Maria Cohut and Dr. Christina Chun

Mental Health Tips for Patients with Cancer During Covid-19 by The University of Colorado Cancer Center

Shattering the Misery Myth: How to Nurture Your Mental Health as a Writer by Kate Sullivan

The Original Broadway Cast & Adam Rapp Discussing THE SOUND INSIDE

Mental Health Resources

Cancer Warriors & Caregivers Resources

Resources for Writers

 

Curious Theatre Company and The Denver Public Library recommends these library resources to enhance your theatre experience of THE SOUND INSIDE!

READ

Gather: Richard Van Camp on the Joy of Storytelling by Richard Van Camp

Master storyteller and bestselling author Richard Van Camp writes of the power of storytelling and its potential to transform both the speaker and the audience. Describing the elements required to make a story, he offers insights into how to read a room, how to capture the attention of listeners, how to create community through storytelling, and how to banish loneliness.

 

WATCH 

Norte, The End of History, dir. Lav Diaz (2013)

This award-winning Filipino adaptation of Crime and Punishment keeps the bleakness (and length!) of the source material. The main character disparages current society and commits murder. However, this movie spends equal time with the victims and the injustices they suffer, offering a peak at the people left behind. Like “The Sound Inside,” it is quietly devastating and leaves you with questions at the end.

LISTEN 

Dept. of Speculation by Jenny Offill

Dept. of Speculation is a similar read to the book the protagonist was reading, Light Years by James Salter, when she began her cancer journey. Both of these books are lyrical in writing style and have similar tones of melancholy with love on the rocks and have an unnamed narrator.

DOWNLOAD 

The Sinner and the Saint: Dostoevsky and the Gentleman Murderer Who Inspired a Masterpiece by Kevin Birmingham

Author and researcher Birmingham paints a complex portrait of one of the fathers of the modern novel who noted insightfully, “There’s a blackness in my soul.” Out of that blackness, Dostoevsky’s shape-shifting art emerged kicking and screaming. Read by Audie award-winning narrator Robert Petkoff.

In Media

  • A Thousand Words Paint a Picture

    by Sonya Ellingboe

    Accomplished local actress Diana Dresser, who plays Bella, a mid-career Yale writing professor, launches immediately into a reflection about her cancer diagnosis in a low-key conversational mode ... she chats with the audience in the beginning and is soon joined by a freshman student, Christopher (Mikah Conway), who arrives “without making an appointment.” He...