In a convent in Mexico, one of the brightest women of her generation strives to reconcile her love for God with her desire for learning and acclaim. Her gift for writing plays and poetry is celebrated by the Court, but her success creates alarm and jealousy within the Church.

In a convent in Mexico, one of the brightest women of her generation strives to reconcile her love for God with her desire for learning and acclaim. Her gift for writing plays and poetry is celebrated by the Court, but her success creates alarm and jealousy within the Church. Persecuted by a zealous archbishop and betrayed by those closest to her, Sister Juana's fragile world threatens to crumble around her as everything she holds dear is cruelly destroyed by dangerous ambition and illicit desires. This title comes from the multi-award-winning author Helen Edmundson, whose plays include “Mary Shelley”; “The Clearing” (winner of the John Whiting Award for Best New Play) and the National Theatre's 2005 smash hit “Coram Boy”.

Helen Edmundson's breakthrough came in 1992 with her award winning adaptation of “Anna Karenina” for Shared Experience, for whom she also adapted “The Mill on the Floss.” Her adaptation of “War and Peace” was staged at the National Theatre in 1996.