At the NACL in Highland Lake, playwright Sara Farrington is developing a new play that looks backward to the end of the 20th century to ask questions that remain unsettled today.

Look Out follows Mara and Ruth Glass, teenage sisters confined to their bedroom after their mother has attempted to harm herself. Set in 1999, the 75-minute, two-character play examines the sisters’ effort to understand their mother and the cultural forces that shaped her life.

Farrington said she wanted to question ideas about women that can become so familiar they go unnoticed.

“I just wanted to tear apart things that we take for granted as I was conditioned in the ’80s and ’90s as a woman,” she said. “These feminist things that we totally are like, oh, it’s acceptable to think about your weight, and it’s acceptable to weigh yourself and wear whatever sort of clothes that we wear. I just wanted to bring all of it into question.”

The sisters approach their mother’s bedroom almost like investigators, examining her music, clothes and even candy hidden in the walls as they try to make sense of what happened.

Farrington drew on her own experiences to create the contrasting sisters. Mara is 12, a drama-loving child who is constantly performing, while 18-year-old Ruth is a punk loner who has already experienced more of the difficulties of adulthood.

“They’re both me,” Farrington said.

The play also uses 1999 as a threshold. Farrington describes the sisters as “two Cassandras” imagining the darker world that might emerge after the turn of the century.

She recalled watching the Columbine shooting unfold in 1999 and initially believing it was an isolated event.

“I remember specifically going, well, this is just a freak thing. This will never happen again,” she said. “This is this is so unthinkable that it’ll never happen again.”

Brett Keyser of NACL said the residency gives artists dedicated time and space to develop their work, largely away from the usual demands of producing a theater project.

For Farrington, that time is central to the experience.

“They have given us a week. We don’t have to think about money. We don’t have to think about food. We don’t have to think about anything except making a meaningful work of art,” she said.

Farrington said her goal for Look Out is ultimately catharsis — an experience that leaves audiences feeling they have encountered something deeply human.

“If people can realize something about themselves and leave feeling — I don’t want anyone to leave feeling bad — but I certainly want them to leave having that ancient human feeling of like, oh my god,” she said. “That’s what I want them to leave with.”

This story discusses themes of suicide. If you or someone you know is experiencing a crisis or needs emotional support, call or text 988 to reach the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.