musical theatre
Hypertension: A New Musical
Ninety minutes, 6W 1M. When Rafaela is diagnosed with hypertension six months into her pregnancy, she decides she needs additional support. Though her husband is apprehensive and her OB disapproving, the midwife Rafaela hires goes on to provide a level of care that the others simply cannot. Hypertension, a new musical with words and music by Grace Valaskovic, confronts the intersection of religion, reproductive care, and colonial vestiges, all while anticipating the birth of Rafaela’s daughter.
Hypertension was developed in part during an independent study with professor Amanda Dehnert at Northwestern University. It was first performed in May of 2025 as a part of Vertigo Productions' spring season, directed by Ferdinand Moscat.
Veronica Gonzalez, center, as Rafaela.
Kailey Morand as Dr. Shea.
Milena Elias-Reyes as midwife Jane, instructing the expectant couple.
Rafaela's final contraction.
Being lifted up (literally and figuratively) by music director Casey Weisman and director Ferd Moscat.
The whole team!
Abraham Deitz-Green performs "Arthur's Verse" as Arthur, Rafaela's husband.
Sophia Gleeson performs "The IUD Song" as Amelia, an evangelical high schooler playing hooky to get reproductive care.
plays
Uninhabitable Home
Ten minutes, TYA, 2W. As the dust bowl of 1930s America forces prairie families to migrate west, Clara insists that she does not want to move. After a particularly windy night, a mysterious stranger appears in Clara's backyard; it turns out that this stranger is also a climate refugee, forced to leave her planet after a terrible flood. Amidst the turbulence of their changing worlds, the two are able to find a moment's solace in knowing they're not alone.
"Uninhabitable Home" was first performed in 2023 as a part of Northwestern University's annual ten minute play festival.
City Scripture
Full length, 4W 1M. Chip, at her core, is smart— something she believes is tied to her atheism. When she falls into a relationship with Julia, a lesbian on the run from Southern Baptist homophobia, Chip’s secular Jewish perspective is challenged in full force. Set across Easter and Passover, City Scripture by Grace Valaskovic tests the ways that our grandest beliefs influence our smallest actions.
City Scripture was developed in part during Northwestern University's advanced playwriting sequence, instructed by professor Laura Schellhardt.
The Joy of the Russes
Ten minutes, 1W 4M. The year is 986, and flamboyant Prince Vladimir of the Kievan Rus wants to go shopping for monotheistic religions. Farcical and ridiculous, Prince Vlad chooses Christianity for reasons apparently shallow— but does that discount the impact Christianity has had on millions of Russians since? “The Joy of the Russes” by Grace Valaskovic is a raunchy example of the butterfly effect in reverse, where grandiose decisions cause intimate change.
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