Secret is a poetic fantasy based on the popular Japanese folktale “The Crane Wife.” 

One sunny day, a man who works as a bike messenger saves an injured bird. Weeks later, a woman rings the man’s doorbell, asking for shelter, eventually moving in with him. After some time passed, the woman asked him to make a weaving room for her. She also asked the man to  promise not to look inside when she worked there. The woman wove an exquisite cloth.When she finished she gave it to the man, and asked him to take it to the market and to sell it for an exorbitant price, telling him not to return until he sold it for that price alone. Spending the day at the market, the man managed to sell it to a museum at the end of the day. Jubilantly returning home, he asked her if she could weave another. With sad eyes, she agreed, returning to her weaving room. Listening to the sound of weaving, the man couldn’t help to look inside the room. He quietly opened the door, only to find the same bird, he had rescued, weaving, instead of the woman. Having broken his promise to the women, she ran from his home, telling him she could no longer stay. Though he chased her, pleading with her to stay, she flew away, never to return.

 

Secret is a modern retelling of this story, featuring jazz guitar, vocals, dance, and shadow puppetry.