Mouth, Mouth

Consumption drives everything and what we do with our mouths reveals the surprising depths of our secret hunger. MOUTH explores the American obsession with consumption. The characters in these ten stories are forced to confront who they become when they can't fill their emptiness.In “Hunger,” a newlywed desperate for motherhood secretly grapples with infertility and anorexia, while her husband trains as a competitive eater. In “Fever,” two siblings lose their mother to alcoholism and navigate grief and addiction, one by training as a pearl diver in the Tennessee River, the other through gin. “Casualties of the Vainglorious” follows a father and son through divorce and unemployment against the backdrop of a Monopoly tournament. A rodeo clown struggles with the impending departure of his best friend, a gold-buckle cowboy, and resorts to sabotage in “The Ovation.” A married couple confront fidelity, duty, and sexuality on their thirty-fifth wedding anniversary in “A Step Ahead of the Alligator.” In “Climate Change,” a vengeful car accident victim finds power exploiting his changing body, using his immobility to trap his wife. In “You and Your Cold Soviet Heart,” an outdoorsman's independence is threatened when he discovers his fiancée is pregnant. When she refuses an abortion, he must choose between unwanted fatherhood with her or a seemingly simpler life with a mail-order bride. “Birds of Paradise” unearths the shocking depths of a woman’s romantic obsession with her best friend during a medical crisis. In “Refrain,” a jazz pianist struggles to keep his darkest secret hidden, risking everything for one more indulgence. And in “Jenny,” a voiceover artist gambles on her happiness when she unveils her true self and publicly starts living as a mermaid.Perfectionism, alcoholism, infidelity: who are we when we hunger?