Grief Leash

SYNOPSIS

Certain that calamity awaits her, Ms. Sheng commissions a ghostwriter to compose a eulogy. A satire about the bloodlessness of the reproductive healthcare system and preemptive mourning as a symptom of a barren society.

PRODUCTION TEAM

Writer: Nic Adams

Director: Leslie Gauthier

Performers: Will Dagger and Rachel Lin

Scenery: lucas a degirolamo

Lighting: Jacqueline Scaletta

Costumes: Sara Vandenheuvel

Sound: Lola Basiliere

Additional Music: Jack Adams

Production Photos: Jose Miranda

DEVELOPMENT HISTORY

Grief Leash was written as the final play of my studies at Brooklyn College, in preparation for the Weasel Festival of 2023, a tradition of the MFA playwriting program. As such, the play was written in response to a prompt from the playwrights who had graduated the year prior. Their prompt to me and my fellow graduating playwrights was as follows:

"In keeping with the act of tradition-(re)making and tradition-keeping our two cohorts have undertaken in reviving Weasel Fest, we ask that your plays this year contend with questions of lineage and legacy. This could mean trying to write something representative of a creative/writerly lineage or cultural lineage you are part of, or could mean writing about questions of lineage and legacy. You are equally welcome to contend with lineages/legacies you feel excluded from or trapped within as well as lineages that you feel a sense of positive belonging to. Whatever questions feel ripe for you about the experience of living/working 'in the tradition of.'"

from The Class of 2022

- Adam Ashraf Elsayigh, Addie Ulrey, Anya Richkind, Joey Merlo, + Susan Moon

PRODUCTION HISTORY

Grief Leash was presented as part of the 2023 Weasel Festival. It ran June 9th - 10th at The Brick Theater. The festival was made possible by the Anna Sosenko Assist Trust, Fractured Atlas’ Lottery Grant, and the 85 donors to our crowdfunding campaign.

Grief Leash was presented as part of an evening of performance featuring the following short plays:

Ducky by Diana Lobontiu, Action Threshold by Alina Jacobs, The Emancipation of Sugar & Baby by Max Keane, and Char by Marissa Joyce Stamps.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Special thanks to professor and dramaturg Elana Greenfield, as well as the MFA Playwriting Co-Chairs, Dennis A. Allen II + Haruna Lee.

Video work samples available upon request.

For licensing, contact Tiny Scripted at plays@tinyscripted.com