Theatre without Walls:
We play where story lives.
There's Something I Must Tell You
Genesis of Play & Synopsis
In 2022, playwright Kathleen Coudle-King was doing research for what would become the play "Retail Therapy: 700 Years of Mental Health 'Care.'" During the process, she visited the Jamestown State Hospital in Jamestown, ND. There she found a tiny museum that contained artifacts dating back to what was the first mental institution in Dakota Territory, founded in 1885, four years before North Dakota's statehood. Kathleen was especially moved by the cemetery she found on the grounds. Those buried had lived and died at the hospital and either had no one to claim them or their families could not afford to bury them.
What were the stories behind the names carved on the stones?
In 2024, Kathleen set out to see if she could connect some of the names in
the graveyard with names in the patient log books in the museum. "There's Something I Must Tell You" shares stories of some of those who lived and
died at the hospital.
Synopsis
Claire, visibly pregnant, has traveled from Minneapolis to the ND State Hospital (formerly "for the insane") to do research for her dissertation. When she is accidentally locked in the museum overnight, she is visited by those who demand to have their stories heard. Claire is also confronted by a specter who helps her better understand her own family's ghosts.
Shame is exorcised when story is shared.
Running time: 60 mins.
Cast
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Director & Playwright
Kathleen Coudle-King has long been intrigued by the things we don't talk about, the stories we don't share, and has made it her life's work to add breath to those words. To say them out loud is to reduce their hold over us. Break their spell.
Kathleen has written plays about teens who were sent away to "homes for unwed mothers" (St. Bette's) dating violence (Look Away), the stories of women political prisoners in Uruguay (Compañeras), and homelessness (In Search of Perephone). She earned a B.F.A. from NYU's TSOA in Dramatic Writing, then promptly moved to North Dakota. (A story for a different time.) There she enrolled in grad school, earning an M.A. in English from the U. of ND. Kathleen currently serves as the Managing Artistic Director for the Empire Theatre Co. in Grand Forks, ND, where she directs plays regularly.
Please visit her site at www.coudle-king.com