What we leave behind
Music by Jenny Giering
Lyrics by Jenny Giering & Sean Barry
WHAT WE LEAVE BEHIND is a profound and timely musical exploring the impact of chronic illness on a family. Jenny is a composer who has made musical theatre her life’s work. When she receives a diagnosis of breast cancer, it seems as though her world has come crashing down around her. Yet her prognosis is good. Her surgery is successful. Why, then, hasn’t Jenny recovered?
By turns sensuous and heartbreaking, WHAT WE LEAVE BEHIND moves seamlessly between the glories of Jenny’s past and the struggles of her present. Before, she and her husband, Sean, shared a life of artistic collaboration and a glorious year with Anna, the beautiful third partner in their marriage. Now, Jenny is on her way to becoming someone else...But who, exactly? And what will her debilitating, mysterious illness mean for her art and her marriage?
WHAT WE LEAVE BEHIND is the musical expression of one artist’s struggle with chronic illness and how that struggle impacts her entire family. When we fall ill, we expect to recover. But what happens when that illness never ends? Are we still the person we were, or have we become the illness itself? How can an artist continue to produce art when she can barely get out of bed? And what does it mean for a husband and a son when the wife and mother they love has become someone else?
Written and composed by husband-and-wife team Jenny Giering and Sean Barry and based upon their shared journey, WHAT WE LEAVE BEHIND is a compelling one-woman show addressing some of the most pressing questions of our time with both heartwarming humor and heart wrenching honesty.