SHORT SYNOPSIS: THE CAGED BIRD SINGS \tby James Channing Shaw and Cal Orey In Nazi-occupied France, Benjamin Cohen, a young gifted musician, becomes obsessed with studying the fifty-five-bell carillon in the Catholic Rouen cathedral. Forced by his father to see a child psychiatrist, he learns to express his emotions through diary entries and seeks companionship through his pet cockatiel, Frère Jacques. Benjamin cannot share with his family the joys of his new un-Jewish instrument or the love relationship he forms with nun-in-training Marie-Noëlle at the cathedral. Benjamin’s estranged and angry older brother Émile abandons the family to join the French resistance. The carillonneur is diagnosed with terminal lung cancer and Benjamin fears losing his teacher and new father figure, only to be devastated by news of Émile’s death by execution. Benjamin assumes the role of principal carillonneur, a position that advances his love relationship with Marie-Noëlle and prepares him to make the most daring decision of his life. Benjamin’s bravery averts a Nazi roundup and he flees to a safehouse north of Rouen. As the war comes to an end, having lost a brother and a sister to the Germans, the product of Benjamin’s unconventional union with Marie-Noëlle becomes the one source of hope for the future of the Cohen family lineage. More hope comes as a surprise when Benjamin encounters Émile's married resistance captain Jeanne d'Arc, and notices in her five-year-old son, a striking resemblance to Émile.