Published in the June 28, 2013 issue of the Bainbridge Island Review.

In “life.cycle.,” a new theatre production written by and starring Bainbridge Islanders, caseworkers in the Offices of Reincarnation ask the question: Can love surpass death?

The show, which is set to open at Seattle’s Eclectic Theatre next week, promises to be a full-faced drama that collects the laughter, the intensity and the beauty of love that persists into the next life.

“It’s this absurdist world, but the characters who live there are very human and very animal,” explained writer and islander Keiko Green.

In this world, people don’t remember their previous lives. They have no way of knowing past encounters and relationships.

While also ignorant to their previous lives, two caseworkers in the Offices of Reincarnation have the unique job of deciding what happens to those that arrive on the other side of life and who they will become next.

Humans become animals, insects become plants, animals become insects, a human is released into Nirvana. The caseworkers do their job well, and make judgments based on a being’s attachment to life and love.

But when a mysterious client with a missing file appears in the office, their world is flipped upside down.

“Life.cycle.” unhinges the past and tells what happens when these caseworkers find out more than they are supposed to know about their own lives long forgotten.

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