36 Questions

The Musical starts as Judith Ford records herself discussing how she has been lying to her estranged husband for the duration of their relationship and leaving her phone charger at a Denny's. She then slips a letter to a mail slot of the house and calls out her husband who she suspects is staying at his childhood home and at the other side of the door. (Hear Me Out) Judith, thinking Jase is at the other side of the door and is playing a game, talks to him as if they do not know each other; how she wants to know where her husband is, the strides she went through to be able to get to where she is right now and how she wants him to hear her out. Jase opens the door, only letting her in because of how she was complaining about the mosquitos are "eating her alive". As she comes inside the house, she gets hit by a tarp and hears different sounds coming from the inside: a drill, a duck quacking and Jase talking to a person named Henry. Judith asks who he was talking to and Jase sneers back asking, "Why you are even here?” She dodges the question and asks about the duck. Jase, upset, remarks about Judith's faults; tracking his location and her dishonesty within their marriage. Attempting to defuse the situation, she shows to him a few items. He responds incredulously and then they bicker and fight for some time, mentioning Henry.

After the first recording got cut, Judith opens the new recording. She mentions that about 8 minutes have passed since the last one and the events that occurred within that time period. The recording resumes in Jase's bedroom closet, as it is the only working outlet in the house. Eventually, the thunderstorm knocks the power out for the house, leading Judith to suggest that they move to Jase's car to continue the record. Jase refuses, but the recording cuts out and resumes in Jase's car as Judith, Jase, and Henry are driving around Jase's childhood neighborhood. As Judith and Jase continue answering the 36 questions, Jase realizes that Judith's original answer was a lie, and Judith's parents are still alive. Judith proceeds to tell Jase about how her parents were also pathological liars and raised her to also be a pathological liar (Our Word). Now pulled over on the side of the highway, Judith gets out of Jase's car and convinces Jase to join her on the beach, despite the high wind. Jase and Judith continue the questions hiding under Judith's blazer to keep out the wind. Jase answers question 11, "what is your life story" revealing he has two moms, an older brother who is married, and that he always wanted to be a teacher. Jase then asks Judith, revealing not all of her previous answers were lies. Judith states that her life did not really start until she met Jase and lived as Natalie, and how desperately she tried to hide as Natalie from her parents (A Better Person). Soon after the recording cuts out and resumes as Judith and Jase are now in a motel room together, still answering the 36 questions. As the two continue, their answers begin to turn into jabs at each other, Jase focusing on how Judith lied, and Judith focusing on how Jase abandoned her. Eventually, they start to fight with one another, causing Judith to accuse Jase of misleading her throughout the night. Jase then explains that despite how much he wants to take Judith back and be happy with her, he simply cannot forget all that has happened (Reality). Jase then leaves Judith in the motel and drives back to his childhood home.

After Jase has left her, Judith walks miles back to his home. She sits on the porch, and she records herself finishing the last 16 questions. She then tells Jase she's leaving for real this time, and does so, leaving the phone with the recordings of the night in his mailbox. ("Answer 36") Jase finds the phone but convinces himself Judith is still trying to manipulate him. We then flash forward to years later. Jase listens to the recordings, claiming it's his last time. We hear him trying to move on through three times of him listening back at different times in his life. ("Listenback") We learn that Jase has been married, had a child, and then divorced. After his final listen back in 2017, he starts writing an email to Judith, answering the final 16 questions he didn't answer the night of the recordings. He overthinks and goes through different things that could go wrong before sending the email. A three-page PDF of these answers. ("Attachment") Surprisingly, Judith writes back, asking to meet up so they can do the last prompt of making eye contact together for 4 minutes of silence. They meet in an Applebees, and Jase brings his young son Cooper along. As they try to do the 4 minutes of silence, Cooper repeatedly interrupts and Jase tries to keep him quiet. After this moment, we hear the finale song, a song about the truth and their different opinions and views and what the truth was. ("The Truth") After this song, the recording ends after a few seconds, and the aftermath is left ambiguous.