This is for the ones who didn’t come home—
and the ones who waited.
For the empty chairs at dinner, the voicemail never deleted,
the medals in the drawer, and the dreams that never happened.
For every folded flag, there’s a story still unfolding.
Love that didn’t die with the body.
Grief that lingers in the shadows of parades.
Tonight, we remember.
Not with silence alone, but with voice.
With art. With truth. With presence.
Because remembrance deserves more than ritual—
It deserves to be felt.
Why did we create Grief Dialogues: Memorial Day?
Honoring the Stories That Deserve to Be Told
Memorial Day is a national moment of remembrance—a time to pause, reflect, and honor those who gave their lives in service. But behind the uniform, behind the folded flag, and behind the public ritual is something even more powerful: a deeply personal story of grief, of love, of lives forever changed.
That’s where Grief Dialogues: Memorial Day begins.
We created this project because we believe in the stories that don’t always make it into the ceremony. The whispered conversations at kitchen tables. The tears behind closed doors. The silence that follows a knock on the door. Grief Dialogues is about giving voice to what so often goes unsaid.
We are inspired to honor the personal side of military loss—the spouses, children, siblings, and friends who carry their loved ones’ memories with them every day. Their grief doesn’t end with a national holiday. And their stories deserve to be told, witnessed, and felt.
Bridging Public Ritual and Personal Grief
Memorial Day, for many, is observed through parades, speeches, and solemn gestures. But we wanted to bridge the space between those public rituals and the very private, very raw experiences of loss. What happens when the music fades and the flag is lowered? Grief Dialogues seeks to illuminate the quiet, emotional truths that live on.
Every service member has a story. Every family has a chapter. And behind every folded flag is a legacy—of laughter, of sacrifice, of love that never left.
Art as a Vessel for Shared Healing
We know that grief doesn’t have a single expression. Sometimes it’s loud. Sometimes it’s silent. But always, it’s deeply human.
That’s why we turn to art—because art holds space for the messy, complicated, and beautiful layers of mourning. Theater, poetry, and storytelling allow us to channel collective sorrow into something visible. Something that can be heard. Something that helps others feel less alone.
In witnessing grief, we honor it. In sharing it, we begin to heal.
Expanding Who We Remember
This project is also a call to expand our remembrance. Not just of service members lost on the battlefield, but of those whose deaths came later—due to invisible wounds, illness, or the ongoing toll of war. We honor the caregivers, the grieving parents, the surviving siblings, and the friends left behind. All of them are part of this story.
Because Grief Deserves a Stage
We’ve learned through our own losses, through the testimonies of others, and through countless shared tears, that grief needs space. It needs a stage. It needs a voice.
With Grief Dialogues: Memorial Day, we answer that call.
Memorial Day is more than a date on the calendar. For us, it is an opportunity to bear witness—to bring the intimate, raw, and individual experiences into the light. To say: You are not alone. We see you. We remember with you.
For those in the Los Angeles, please join us for a tribute to those we’ve lost. Tickets here.
