Pieces Of Us
show description:
Pieces Of Us is meta-modern verbatim-style show in which an artist interviews 5 of her fellow citizens about grief in the 21st century to make meaning of her own.
Inspired by documentary interviews with real people, experiences from my own life, along with research of the different experiences in different regions of the USA, this show investigates grief on a societal scale.
Pieces Of Us investigates individual experiences of grief within the context of larger societal forces & narratives: the history of a place, evolving technologies, the promises of the American Dream, labor strikes, gun violence, & pandemics. By asking the audience to identify with each character, the personal becomes political.
trailer
artistic endorsements
Sarah Lawrie
Development History
This show has existed in some form for a long time.
I did a sharing at the Bread & Roses Theatre Pub as part of a theatre festival in 2019 under a different title, “Colossus.”
Through COVID I continued developing the show with the Shrill Writer’s Residency. Through this process, I realised I was making two shows. So I pulled out the threads that belonged to “Pieces Of Us” and I shared a WIP of the 5 character monologues at the Rosemary Branch Theatre Pub in April 2021 under its original title “Pieces Of Me.”
I showcased individual characters in WIP showcases, one in online performance as part of Winnie Arhin’s Writer’s Corner and another as part of NDT Broadgate’s scratch nights.
An unusual opportunity to take “Pieces Of Us” to the EdFringe gave me a deadline to build an infrastructure for the 5 individual character monologues, to showcase one more WIP at the Golden Goose Theatre to get ready for the EdFringe 2023.
PIECES OF US is our attempt to ask ‘tough questions about our own power and participation in creating the world we live in and the way we relate to each other.’
audience feedback
“didn’t want it to end!”
“virtuosic acting”
“a totally unique show”
“a captivating whistle-stop tour of American life”