GRIEF DIALOGUES to Bring Three New Productions to Five Cities This Fall

Grief Dialogues, the nonprofit theatrical organization founded by playwright and producer Elizabeth Coplan, marks its tenthyear with three distinct productions landing in four cities this fall and winter: In the Wake of Life in Sarasota, Florida; Our Loving Companions in San Francisco and Berkeley, California; and In Honor: We Hold the Line, running first in San Antonio, Texas and then on Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Each production uses theatre, differently, to do the thing Grief Dialogues does best: make space for the conversations most people spend a lifetime avoiding.

'Grief is one of the only universal experiences we almost never talk about,' says Coplan. 'Every play we produce is an invitation. Come sit with this for ten minutes, or ninety. You will laugh, you might cry, and you will realize you are not the only one carrying this.'

IN THE WAKE OF LIFE - SARASOTA, FL

Tree Fort Productions Projects opens its new season in partnership with Grief Dialogues for In the Wake of Life, six ten-minute plays from five playwrights across the country, running September 18 through 20, 2026 at Tree Fort Productions Studio Theater, 3501 South Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, Florida. Producing Artistic Director Katherine Michelle Tanner and director Lee Gundersheimer lead the production. This play is not sad or depressing. It is not even about death. It is about the privilege of being alive.

Playwrights: Daniel Guyton (Atlanta, GA); Elizabeth Coplan (Seattle, WA), founder of Grief Dialogues; Jeffrey Fischer-Smith (New York, NY);Barbara Blumenthal-Ehrlich (New Jersey); and Mark Harvey Levine (Indianapolis, IN).

'I wanted to open our season with something that speaks directly to the shared human experience,' says Tanner. 'Death and grief are universal,yet we rarely discuss them openly. Partnering with Grief Dialogues gave us a way to turn what can be an isolating journey into a beautiful, communal moment of healing and love.'

Every performance is followed by a facilitated audience talkback. Saturday, September 19 at 2:00 PM adds a talkback with Suzanne O'Brien, best-selling author of The Good Death. Sunday, September 20 at 2:00 PM is immediately followed by a staged reading of local playwright NyaChambless's new work, What Remains of Us.

Tickets available at bit.ly/4x8DBmI. Directly between Conner's and Aldi; enter at the Chico's Mall door.

OUR LOVING COMPANIONS - SAN FRANCISCO & BERKELEY, CA

The Marsh presents the world premiere of Our Loving Companions, an immersive, choose-your-own-adventure evening of 14 plays and poems about the loyal and loving animals that touch our hearts, directed by Pamela

Hollings. Presented in collaboration with Grief Dialogues, the production runs October 15 through 18 at The Marsh San Francisco (1062 Valencia Street) and October 22 through 25 at The Marsh Berkeley (2120 Allston Way), 7:30 PM Thursdays through Saturdays and 3:00 PM Sundays. A portion of proceeds benefits San Francisco Aid for Animals.

The production grew out of a shared vision between Coplan and co-producer and playwright Alan Stewart, a veterinarian-turned-playwright and former trustee of San Francisco's Magic Theatre. 'Half of American households share their lives with a pet, yet when that pet dies, most of usgrieve alone,' says The Marsh's Artistic and Executive Director Stephanie Weisman. 'Pet loss remains one of the most common and least acknowledged griefs we experience.'

Featured plays include A Little Birdie Told Me by Marilyn Anderson, The Bridge by Jay Cross, Must Love Pitbulls by Jenny Mead, Dog Dreams by Jeffrey Fischer-Smith, Tomorrow and Rollover by Alan Stewart, and What We Know by Stephanie Weisman, among others. Most performances are followed by a facilitated discussion with pet grief professionals.

Tickets: $35 general admission, $50 and $100 reserved, plus a $3 convenience fee, at themarsh.org.

IN HONOR: WE HOLD THE LINE - SAN ANTONIO, TX & CAPE COD, MA

In Honor: We Hold the Line, an immersive tribute to Veterans, active-duty service members, and their families, comes to the Radius Center in San Antonio, Texas on October 23 and 24, 2026 at 7:00 PM (106 Auditorium Circle #120), then travels to the Alliance Arts Center at Historic TownHall, 130 Main Street, Sandwich, Massachusetts, on November 8, 2026. Audiences move through a living landscape of remembrance, told through live performance, spoken word, music, and visual art, including a Ribbons of Remembrance ceremony where guests write and hang the name of a service member they wish to honor. Licensed grief professionals are present throughout.

The San Antonio engagement is directed by Donna Provencher, with Natalie Buster as associate director and Dr. Qwynn Galloway-Salazar, a U.S. Army veteran with national expertise in veteran-centered end-of-life care, as Artist-in-Residence and co-producer. The production issponsored locally by Operation Solace, UTSA Arts, and ABODE. The Cape Cod engagement is directed by Dani Davis.

The script library draws from a consistent core of plays, paired in each city with a story from a local Veteran or military-connected storyteller:Memorial Day by Leilani Squire, Michael and The Saints by Benjamin Fortier, and Attention Shoppers by Barbara Blumenthal.

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