Overflow

Overfllow, written and directed by Justina Walford, chronicles with humor and honesty Walford’s search for identity as a bi-racial adopted child. Her exploration takes us from the incubator through her uncertain ethnicity, religious quests and to her changing sexual preference that leads to losing the two people who promised to love her forever.

The story begins with a story. Walford’s Japanese mother doesn’t know any classic bedtime stories, so she tells her daughter about a couple who had so much extra love that they got a baby at the baby store to “eat up all the love.” Justina talks about this abundance -the overflow- as well as the many unanswered questions the story spawns. Overflow is a comic and heartwarming story of a woman’s struggle with identity in a world with few givens.

The show’s structure is an interesting twist on the one-man show. Six actors play different facets of Walford’s personality and life: spirituality, love, family, fear, art, and the voices of her parents.