Love on the Other Side of Death Part II: Meet the Rook – a BFF ’24 in ’25 Free Event at Santa Monica Playhouse - The Other Space

It’s BFF ’24 in ’25, the 9th Annual BFF Binge Fringe Festival of FREE Theatre, Feb 25 - April 4, the only FREE Fringe Festival in the nation, offering 30 plays, workshops and family-oriented events. Today: 

Mary tells the story of legally adopting a 35-year-old adult, Michael Brooks, known in the Web 3 Cryptocurrency and NFT world as the Rook, who first came to her home as an Airbnb guest. She shares her insights into the character of this brilliant yet wounded young man, tells how he died early in 2024, just two years after being adopted, and the magical happenings from the Other Side of Death that reveal their bond of mother-son love. With sincerity and vulnerability, Mary shares the journey through her intense grief while accepting the Divine Mother’s loving will in this unexpected turn of events. If you've ever wondered what happens after death, Mary’s real-life experiences pull back that veil and invite you in.
Written & Performed by Mary Guillerman. Developed and directed by Jessica Lynn Johnson. Rated: 14+

The BFF celebrates the range and depth of the human condition and the idea that theatre arts experiences are vital, transformative, and must be available for all.  Special thanks to generous grants from the We Are Santa Monica Fund, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, the City of Santa Monica and the Santa Monica Arts Commission, and Playhouse PALS. 

Mary Guillermin is a solo show writer and performer, a collage artist and a licensed Marriage & Family Therapist (#52868) who lives in the wild lands of the Topanga mountains in California. Mary’s late husband, film director John Guillerman, saw death as the final end. Mary sees it differently. Before his sudden death, Mary was in partnership with her adult adoptive son, Michael Brooks, on their world-changing mission of Love: “Change Within, Change the World.” Mary is continuing their work by writing and performing her plays, building a YouTube channel called CWCW and by holding online and in person events at the SunMoon Atrium on the Topanga property. Mary also offers spiritual guidance to the Feminine Divine through readings of her individually created Living Archetypes collage cards. This is Mary’s third solo show with a fourth show in development about Mary and Michael’s magical partnership called “The Island Queen: Part III of Love on the Other Side of Death.”