Still • Falling and The Code explore contemporary social issues today’s teens face in their daily lives: anxiety and depression, the complexities of gender dynamics, and the challenges that arise when the lines between friendship and romance are blurred. A realistic, honest, and bitingly funny look at the difference between so-called teen angst and mental illness, Still • Falling (which includes an adaptation for a male actor) follows Nina as she tries to come to terms with what it means to struggle with anxiety, depression, and self-harm and to rise above them with as much strength, and as few scars, as possible.

In The Code, grade-eleven student Moira becomes a hero when she stages a school-wide protest after her school’s principal implements a dress code for school dances. But when the principal responds by cancelling the spring dance, Moira’s followers viciously turn on her. With humour and nuance, The Code challenges audiences to hold themselves accountable for their words and actions and consider what’s at stake when lines are crossed.

Rachel Aberle is a theatre artist born and raised in various parts of Greater Vancouver, on areas including the Traditional, Ancestral, and unceded Territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, Stó:lō, Stz’uminus, Qayqayt, Tsawwassen, and Kwantlen Nations. As a playwright, Rachel strives to explore complex issues with humour and curiosity. Her first play, Still • Falling, has toured across North America and received the Jessie Richardson Theatre Award for Significant Artistic Achievement. Her second play, The Code, was recognized with the Sydney J. Risk Prize for Outstanding Original Script by an Emerging Writer. Rachel is the artistic director of Green Thumb Theatre and a graduate of Studio 58. Her greatest joy in life is being a mom to the one and only Elliot Eva, who inspires, surprises, and challenges her every single day.

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