In Her Bones by Jessica Kahkoska

Colorado’s San Luis Valley is world-renowned for its beauty, but the area holds a deeper clandestine heritage: the legacy of Sephardic Jews who fled the Spanish Inquisition five centuries ago. When Mia returns to the region for her grandmother’s funeral, she’s forced to confront a past that she is both fleeing and seeking out. As she looks back on family memories, another world creeps in — one of shadows, forgotten prayers, and secrets hiding right in plain sight. Unearth the complicated legacy of Crypto-Judaism in the Southwest through this unlikely alpine tale of faith, fear and how we pass on culture when written records are too dangerous to keep. Driven by a Colorado-based, oral history research process, Jessica Kahkoska’s play received the 2019 Powered by Off-Center Residency at the DCPA.

Jessica Kahkoska. Projects include Agent 355 (with Preston Max Allen, Chautauqua Theater Company, American Antiquarian Society Fellowship, Marion International Fellowship), The Death of Desert Rose (with Elliah Heifetz, Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellowship), Letters to the President (with Michael Bello, The Cooper Union), Wild Home: An American Odyssey (Notch Theatre Company). Her work has been additionally developed by the Drama League, Roundabout Theatre Company, Village Theatre, Southern Colorado Repertory Theatre, Joe’s Pub, Ars Nova and the American Music Theatre Project (AMTP). Graduate of Northwestern University. www.jessicakahkoska.com