“W.K.” is a play about love. It’s about your first love and mine. “W.K.” follows a seven-year romance from beginning to end and asks the question: how does your first love change you, and can you ever return to the way you were before?

“W.K.” was inspired by the marriage of my grandparents. For the last seven years (yes, seven whole years) of their married life, my grandparents did not speak a single word to one another. Living under the same roof with three children, their relationship was completely reduced to typewritten letters and chalk scribbles. My grandparents were each other’s first loves and last, neither one ever fully recovering from the implosion of their relationship. Inspired by their story and by the fact that I don’t know if anyone ever truly recovers from their first attempts at love, we’ve created “W.K.,” a movement-infused pop culture collage filled with swing dancing, bingo, sex, audience interaction, karaoke versions of “Loving You” by Minnie Ripperton, neuroscience, laughter, revenge and lots of kissing. Taking place over seven years, we witness the genesis of love and the deterioration of intimacy for our two main characters, Willie & Kathy. As their verbal discussion drops away, the body becomes the main instrument for dialogue, creating a world of sharp changes and deep misunderstanding. What happens when we are unable to speak to the one we love? “W.K.” examines our obsession with intimacy and what happens when we fail on our first try.