When the Bough Breaks is a compilation of plays that explore falling apart. The title comes from the lullaby Rock-a-Bye Baby:

Rock-a-bye baby, in the treetop.
When the wind blows, the cradle will rock.
When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall.
And down will come baby, cradle, and all.

When I had my children and sang to them at bedtime, I suddenly heard the words coming out of my mouth and realized how gruesome a song it was. But as a playwright the images of breaking and falling from a great height figured into so many of my characters. In these four plays you meet people at a crucial time in their relationships; when they are teetering on the precipice. One gust of wind in either direction can send them back into their realities or send them off the cliff, hurtling toward a new life. These are often not happy times but they are often cathartic and freeing and bring about much needed change or the ability to finally forge a new path. There can also be a lot of humor in these dark times. I hope you will find that in most of these short pieces.

There are many ways to fall… fall in love, fall from grace, fall apart, fall into the abyss – yes, so many ways to fall. These short plays explore a few of them.

Something Broken: A woman falls and her husband cannot pick her up.

Saving Andrea: An imagined account of the life of Andrea Yates, the Texan woman who drowned her five children, as she is retried for a not guilty by reason of insanity verdict.

Matter (Written with GiGi Anber): Jack Sprat could eat no fat, His wife could eat no lean; And so betwixt them both, They lick’d the platter clean. Two sisters try to find happiness in fat and thin.

Dry Rot: A Seattle couple comes to terms with their marriage in the rainiest season on record.

3GT Resident Playwright and Co-founder Suze Allen is a published author, playwright, teacher, dramaturg and director with credits on both coasts. She is directs the 3GT Theatre LabWorkshops for adults as well as the Girl Talk program of 3GT’s GirlWrights project.  She was the creator of Fresh New Works San Francisco, The Maine Playwrights’ Lab and Short Works Festival, Artistic Director for the SF Writers and Actors Lab, Director for Fertile Ground Writing Studio and the resident Dramaturge and playwriting instructor at The Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco. Her work and the work she has directed has played the Dramatists Guild’s SF Footlights, Tides Theatre, Brava Theatre, 450 Geary, The Marsh, Intersection for the Arts, Noh Space, The Phoenix, OutNorth Contemporary Art House in Anchorage Alaska and The SF and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals. Her show THE MANIC MAMA DANCE premiered at the Marsh Café and played Birthfest 2008. Suze co-authored the book, The Time-Starved Woman’s Guide to Emotional Wellbeing with SD Shanti and advises writers through her company Manuscript Mentor. Suze’s short play program, THINGS WE DO FOR LOVE , was featured at 3Girls Theatre’s 2013 Celebration of Women’s History Month. In 2012, Suze directed AJ Baker’s THE RIGHT THING and Lee Brady’s WHAT ABOUT BEN? at 3GT’s inaugural 2012 Celebration of Women’s History Month. Since 2012 Suze has been San Francisco’s representative to the Dramatists’ Guild and playwright in residence at Balboa High School in San Francisco.  She is currently dramaturg for the Playwrights Center of San Francisco.