The Story of Opal: The Journal of an Understanding Heart is an ensemble-driven play adapted by Gale Childs Daly and based on the published journal of Opal Whiteley. During the early 1900’s, Opal was orphaned and taken in by a family living in a logging settlement in Oregon. From the age of 5 until she was 12, Opal religiously wrote about her experiences growing up in the forest. Opal’s poetic words form a dually magical and real perspective into her secluded life. At home, Opal only had the Bible and an almanac to read. It is from these two sources that she selected names for her animal friends, and favorite trees. For example, William Shakespeare was her horse and Peter Paul Rubens her pig. This play and Opal’s words gives us a chance to reflect on our own relationship with nature while looking through a child’s eyes. Within the story, actors will work as an ensemble all portraying Opal as well as her animals, the trees and fairies of the forest, and a few adults such as “The Man Who Wears Gray Neckties and is Kind to Mice.” Music created by the actors onstage will drive the story forward and help explore what it means to perform Opal’s words now as young people growing up during the current climate crisis.