Broken - The Play

The play opens with Cynthia speaking with her 17-year-old son, Brandon. It’s their birthday and while the mood is solemn, Cynthia tries very hard to be upbeat.

Throughout the FIRST ACT, Cynthia, suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), shamelessly torments herself and her family in an effort to rectify her deeply embedded physical and emotional mourning.  

While the audience becomes deeply immersed in the proceeding scenes revolving the relationship between Cynthia and Brandon throughout the play, it is discovered at the end of ACT ONE, that Brandon is actually deceased. Accidentally killed by Cynthia, his untimely death is tormenting her.

Misunderstanding of the severity of PTSD leads Cynthia to rationalize her need for help as a weakness and character flaw. She believes her turmoil is a punishment from God. This level of grief allows Cynthia to conjure Brandon in such a way that protects her heart and sanity, but slowly unravels her relationships and health.

As ACT TWO convenes Cynthia realizes that relying on family for emotional support, (rather than therapy), is not healthy. Therefore, in an effort to salvage her sanity and what’s left of her physical health, she decides to first; painfully let Brandon go.
Ultimately what Cynthia comes to accept is that the misinterpretation of reality has a definitive effect on her actuality and that living in the present and unconditionally accepting her current situation as part of life’s painful circumstances, is the true path to regaining some semblance of happiness, while letting the wrong reality go.