BEFORE READING: Please note, How A Boy Falls is a mystery/thriller, and this synopsis reveals ALL the details.
It is intended for educational preparation or anyone who would benefit from knowing the entire plot before attending the performance. DO NOT READ if you don’t want to know exactly how the mystery unfolds!
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The play begins in a coffee shop in an unnamed American City on the water. Michelle–or Chelle as she likes to be called–sits alone, anxiously waiting for someone. Two strangers, Sam and Mitch, discuss the idea of Sam introducing himself to this woman and pretending to be whomever she is waiting for. Chelle rises to leave when Sam makes his move, but, suddenly, we are in a new scene.
In the same coffee shop, Chelle meets Paul Rondine, a wealthy entrepreneur who built a company that eliminates digital information on people’s pasts so they can start over. Paul is interested in hiring Chelle to nanny for his four year old son, Alexander. Chelle is then swept into another scene from the past–with Miranda, Paul’s wife, Alexander’s mother, who had no idea her husband was hiring a nanny. Miranda expresses fear about the home’s balcony that hangs above a cove and the danger it poses to a young child. Chelle wins her over, and Miranda reluctantly agrees to have Chelle back to the house.
Back to present day, Chelle rises to leave when Sam makes his move. She sees him, and instantly believes Sam is Rick, a person she has been texting about having someone killed. The question remains: who does she want killed and why?
It turns out that, while under Chelle’s care, Alexander fell off the balcony of his house, perched high up over the ocean. His Mickey Mouse hat was found on the rocks below. Despite never finding the body, the Rondine family held a memorial service and grieved the loss of their son. Chelle reveals that Miranda is gone, fled to France after the service even though Paul believes her to be in Colorado. Chelle knows because she receives mysterious letters from Miranda that show up for her in the house where she still lives with Paul. He is threatening to press charges for Alexander’s death. And that is why Chelle wants to have him killed. Sam, intrigued by the entire story, continues to play along as Rick, the hitman.
From here on out, the play jumps back and forth in time between Sam and Chelle’s interactions to Chelle’s life with the Rondine Family. Oh, and Sam continues to meet with Mitch, the mysterious, security expert who put Sam up to all of this.
Mitch convinces Sam that it would be better to ruin Paul than kill him. Flash back to Chelle seeing Paul and Miranda in the police station after initial questioning. Paul accuses Miranda of not grieving, while Paul is deep in his grief. In a private moment, Miranda asks Chelle where Paul was during the accident. Could he have been on the balcony?
Sam and Chelle meet up in the present to figure out their next move. Chelle explains, through a scene from that past, that Paul knows she is on the run from her father and used that as blackmail to get Chelle to stay in the house with him. Paul offers to help Chelle start fresh with a new identity. Back in the present, Chelle claims she is staying in the house because she found a suitcase packed with all of Alexander’s clothing and important documents. She believes Paul intended to kidnap Alexander, but, before he could, the boy fell.
Flash back to Paul and Miranda in a private moment. When Paul believes Miranda is cheating on him with the sheriff, he traps her in the house by hiding her phone and disabling her car. Paul’s controlling habits extend beyond their relationship. He has started to erase her from their business, the one they built together that erases people’s histories.
Back in the present, Mitch shows Sam the missing video footage of the balcony from the day Alexander fell. Except, he did not fall. The video shows Alexander throwing his hat over the side and stepping out of frame toward the exterior staircase. Is Alexander alive? Did Paul succeed in kidnapping him?
In the present, Sam and Chelle meet up, and Chelle has discovered Sam’s real identity. She is furious at his manipulation, but Sam has the new information about the video to share with Chelle. And he has discovered that Chelle’s father died 10 years ago. She has nothing to run from. They come up with a plan to ruin Paul by finding information about his life before Miranda and their company, something no one knows about.
Chelle confronts Paul about the suitcase and says she will leave tomorrow. Paul continues to try to blackmail her into staying with news of her father, who we know to be dead.
Miranda, who, up to this point has been in France, comes home to confront Paul, but first runs into Chelle and tells her the truth. Miranda packed the suitcase. Miranda–in an intricate plan–kidnapped her son. Alexander is alive, in France. And Miranda, who is an expert at clearing histories, wanted to clear theirs and make them a fresh start, mother and son. But, she couldn’t. Her conscience got in the way, especially after Chelle believed Alexander fell off the balcony and died.
Mitch, who does, in fact, work for Paul, has been helping Miranda deliver letters to Chelle, trying to convince Chelle to leave. Mitch tells Paul that Miranda is on the balcony with Chelle. Miranda starts to tell Paul the truth about his son, but before she can get the words out, Sam appears. He reveals that “Paul Rondine” is a new identity, that “Paul” has been many people previously. Turns out, the company they created was just what “Paul” needed to erase his past, and Miranda was none-the-wiser. “Paul” is wanted by the FBI for fraud and extortion. Paul is overcome with anger at this revelation and continued grief over the loss of his son.
The play ends with Sam and Chelle. Apparently, Paul climbed over the balcony rail and jumped. Chelle says goodbye to Sam, leaving just a bit of mystery behind her.
