Burial bride tradition granted dramatic revival

In the Loess Plateau region of Shanxi province, the parents of unmarried sons who died early deaths have been known to pay dowries to the parents of dead daughters in hopes of buying rest for lonely souls.

When New York-based playwright Anna Moench read about the practice three years ago, she was moved to write Hunger. There was a reading of the play on June 22 at The Public Theater in Manhattan.

Directed by Eric Ting and inspired in part by China's rash of school stabbings in recent years, the play tells the story of a farming couple whose son committed murder and then suicide.