Cicadas

by Stacey Isom Campbell

Jessie tries to help her sister Eva make homemade yogurt. She only succeeds in burning the yogurt and offending Eva. In the end, Jessie must face the hypocrisy of her choice not to get help for her addiction in the face of Eva’s chronic illness for which there isn’t any help.

Jessie tries to help her sister Eva make homemade yogurt. She only succeeds in burning the yogurt and offending Eva. In the end, Jessie must face the hypocrisy of her choice not to get help for her addiction in the face of Eva’s chronic illness for which there isn’t any help.

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Cicadas

Recommended by

  • Danielle Wirsansky: Cicadas

    Cycladas explores the tension between family dynamics and the burden of addiction with subtlety and depth. Campbell's writing captures the weight of unspoken emotions, as Jessie grapples with her choices against the backdrop of her sister's chronic illness—powerful and poignant.

    Cycladas explores the tension between family dynamics and the burden of addiction with subtlety and depth. Campbell's writing captures the weight of unspoken emotions, as Jessie grapples with her choices against the backdrop of her sister's chronic illness—powerful and poignant.

  • Jewish Plays Project: Cicadas

    Jewish Plays Project would like to acknowledge that CICADAS received Commended status for our first Ten Minute Play Contest OOF: On One Foot, which searched nationally for plays from artists of all backgrounds responding to our prompt on healing & repair. Our Artist Panel readers appreciated the craft, style, and creativity, as well as how it theatrically expressed the first annual contest theme of healing & repair.

    Jewish Plays Project would like to acknowledge that CICADAS received Commended status for our first Ten Minute Play Contest OOF: On One Foot, which searched nationally for plays from artists of all backgrounds responding to our prompt on healing & repair. Our Artist Panel readers appreciated the craft, style, and creativity, as well as how it theatrically expressed the first annual contest theme of healing & repair.

  • Brian Cern: Cicadas

    The Iceberg Theory, as Hemingway coined it, is the practice of selective omission. If an author knows the story well enough, they can leave details out of the writing, and the reader will know them as if they were covered in depth in a previous scene.
    This is what we have in “Cicadas.” The (perhaps) final notes in a life long symphony. We don’t need to hear the first movements, because the theme is so very well echoed in the last refrain. The details don’t matter.
    A brilliantly written piece. Well done.

    The Iceberg Theory, as Hemingway coined it, is the practice of selective omission. If an author knows the story well enough, they can leave details out of the writing, and the reader will know them as if they were covered in depth in a previous scene.
    This is what we have in “Cicadas.” The (perhaps) final notes in a life long symphony. We don’t need to hear the first movements, because the theme is so very well echoed in the last refrain. The details don’t matter.
    A brilliantly written piece. Well done.

Development History

  • Type Workshop, Organization New Play Development Workshop, ATHE , Year 2024

Awards