The show tells the story of medieval composer, mystic, scientist, and Catholic saint Hildegard von Bingen “on her path to sainthood from childhood,” primarily depicting the thirty years she spent locked up in a cell with her mentor, the anchoress Jutta von Sponheim.
The actual storyline begins with Jutta in her cell reading her last rites, choosing to live the rest of her life as a dead person and receiving only food and water left at a small window and preparing for Hildegard's arrival; at 8 years old, a young Hildegard (portrayed by a puppet) is left with Jutta ("Death Ceremony").
Originally, Hildegard (now portrayed by Rachael Duddy as "Eye," Hannah Whitney as "Hand," and Ashley Pérez Flanagan as "Mouth," with each actress holding a puppet of the sense they respectively represent) expresses her resistance to staying in Jutta's cell and desire to go home, before describing how she has too many desires but ultimately wants to be "whole" ("If I Had a Knee").
Time passes, and Mouth expresses her hunger and her feelings of being inside the cell for so long, before experiencing her first period ("I Am Hungry").
Emboldened by Hildegard, Eye, Hand, and Mouth, Shadow divulges some of her feelings and the sensations she remembers from her sexual assault ("Light Undercover/In the Green (Reprise)").
Hildegard, Eye, Hand, and Mouth reflect on Jutta's teachings while grieving their mentor's death ("Forgiveness").
[5][6] The New York Times’ Ben Brantley refers to the musical’s “audacity and opacity,” while Raven Snook from Time Out New York writes “McLean’s promise shines through this fascinating if flawed experiment.”[7][8] The original cast recording of In the Green was released digitally and for streaming October 16, 2020 by Ghostlight Records.