In Overtones Gerstenberg created two lines of action to tell the story of Harriet and Margaret. Harriet has married for money and longs for the man she loves, while Margaret has married for love (the same man Harriet, too, had loved) and now longs for money. The surface action of the play, which reveals only the "civilized" selves of these women, is shown in conventional dramatic form, while the action below the surface reveals the subconscious selves of the two women in two characters named Hetty and Maggie. Harriet and Margaret exist in the present in a world as it appears to be; Hetty and Maggie speak of the past and life as they honestly feel them. The two actions placed side by side create not just a conventional conflict between two women, but a compelling irony and a conflict within each character, Harriet-Hetty and Margaret-Maggie.

This production, performed at Actors East in collaboration with overtone theatre company, will seek to ask what has changed in our perception of the feminine, and how we uncover the masks we all each wear daily. What is the nature of female rebellion? In stripping the play back to its absurdist roots, we are attempting to come to new, bold conclusions that take the text in a completely unique direction.