Claire Willett

playwright, novelist, raconteuse, lady nerd

The official website of Portland writer Claire Willett.

Upon Waking

Staged Reading, First Annual Fertile Ground New Play Festival (2009)

Troubled by vivid nightmares after the sudden and tragic death of his beloved twin sister, brilliant but unstable poet Saul Campion consults therapist Magda Bellini for help. Shortly thereafter he goes missing and is presumed to have killed himself. Sam, a young reporter with unknown motives of his own, insists Saul is still alive and enlists Magda's reluctant aid to prove it. Their investigation turns up more questions than answers. As the two delve into Saul's past, they descend deeper into a labyrinth of tragic death, earth-shattering family secrets, mental illness and deception. The unlikely allies find themselves in very real danger as the mysteries begin to unravel, and must decipher the trail of clues left for them – a packed overnight bag, a wedding gift, Saul's cryptic poetry - to discover the truth before it's too late.