COGNITIVE DIVINE to Premiere at The Marsh San Francisco
Written and performed by Janet Thornburg, the solo comedy explores a psyche fractured by closed-head injury, late love, and parenthood.
Fresh off a sold-out, award-winning first look at The Marsh's In Front of Your Eyes Performance Festival, Playwright and Performer Janet Thornburg's Cognitive Divine will have its world premiere at The Marsh San Francisco Studio this fall.
In this rollicking autobiographical comedy, Janet moves from Colorado to San Francisco in 1972, where a closed-head injury, late-in-life love, even-later-in-life parenthood, and a divorce await her, along with a right-wing coup led by one of the seven subpersonalities in her psyche. Wild Child, Rosie, and Mauve love San Francisco; Raisin and Hannah want to go home. Cora soothes Raisin with cinnamon rolls while Hannah frets about sugar. Hannah and Wild Child clash over partying. Rosie wants new clothes and skin care; Mauve wants writers' conferences. Add the shock of becoming an elder, and something has got to give.
Janet Thornburg's Cognitive Divine will be presented November 6 – December 11, 2026 (press opening: November 13) at The Marsh San Francisco Studio, 1062 Valencia Street, San Francisco. For tickets ($25-$35 sliding scale, $50 and $100 reserved, plus a $3 convenience fee per ticket) or for more information, the public may visit themarsh.org.
Janet Thornburg's Cognitive Divine had its first performances in August 2026 at the Marsh's In Front of your Eyes Performance Festival, selling out The Marsh's San Francisco Studio and amassing the largest livestream audience of any show in the Festival. Cognitive Divine is the first production from The Marsh's second Festival to see a full transfer, offering returning festival audiences new content developed off the feedback received during its workshop, and new audiences the chance to catch the world premiere of a groundbreaking new story from this intrepid performer. This exuberant show was awarded Best Comedy and Best Attended Livestream from the Festival's awards. An incubator for groundbreaking new work, the In Front of Your Eyes Performance Festival presented 18 full-length developing pieces by women and nonbinary artists, filling a key spot in the nation's solo theater development ecosystem. After the loss of the San Francisco Fringe Festival, In Front of Your Eyes presents a new opportunity to uplift the outer edges of the Bay Area's theatrical community.
“This is only the beginning of both an exciting new chapter for The Marsh and a necessary progression of the In Front of Your Eyes Performance Festival with a full performance run of Cognitive Divine,” said The Marsh's Founder, Artistic/Executive Director Stephanie Weisman. “At The Marsh, we aim to craft the storyteller that lives inside everyone, and the festival was created as a part of that mission. We're putting our best foot forward by bringing Janet Thornburg's show to a wider audience first, and this show is hilarious. Often, solo performers will ambitiously craft the characterization of others, but in Cognitive Divine, Thornburg brings forth characters who live inside herself. It's a fascinating look into a dynamic psyche that shouldn't be missed.
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