“Okay,” Willa says before we begin, “Avril, this is all you. There’s no dialogue in this entire scene. Not one single spoken word. It’s all very intense and physical.” She looks at me, and I see a hint of worry in her eyes. “If you’re uncomfortable in any way, or if anything doesn’t feel right, I want you to call ‘hold’ immediately. Okay?”

“I can handle it,” I say. “No worries.”

Willa nods. “I know you can.” The smile she gives me makes me feel so much braver. “You’re not one to back down.” She stares at me for a second. “Your mother would be so proud of you.”

Willa looks at her papers, and Jude takes his cue. “Okay, people,” he announces, “let’s do this. It’s nighttime again. Eden and Orion have agreed to meet by the river, but it’s been raining all day. Eden gets there first.”

One of the techs stands up to explain how we’ll create the rain effect with lighting and sound. Same with the flood.

Willa walks me through what she wants. The mechanics of it are easy.

Enter from upstage left.

Cross to the edge of the stage.

Stand there and look out at the rising water. If I see it, she tells me, the audience will see it.

Then I look up at the stars and wait for the sound cue. Eden’s music. When I hear that melody, I’m supposed to move. Just like I did at auditions. Then slowly the music will fade out, and the sound of rushing river will fade up. More lighting effects. Louder sound.

Until the dam breaks, and Eden is swept away in the blackout.

“Does that all make sense?” Willa asks, and I feel my heart racing in my chest. But I nod. Try to look braver than I feel. “How is Eden feeling when she dances here?” she asks me. “By the river. In the dark. And the pouring rain?”

The answer to that question is so obvious to me. “Mostly she feels free.”

Willa smiles. “Why?”

“Because for the first time ever, she feels loved. Seen.”

Willa nods. “That’s it.” She looks around the theatre at all of us. “You know, lovelies, we hear so much talk about ‘finding ourselves,’ but really I think it’s not as much about finding ourselves as it is finding other people who know who we are, and who can reflect that back to us when we’ve forgotten it. Everyone needs someone who will sing your song back to you.” She looks at me for a few long seconds, and I wonder if she’s thinking about my mother. “God. What a rare gift that is.” Then she smiles again. “So, Eden comes. She waits for Orion, and she dances to that music in her head, just for a few minutes, in this really private moment of letting go. Being free.”