Plays & Films
We use theatre and film as artistic expression to face the untold, unheard, and often misunderstood tales of life and death.
We are updating the ever-popular Grief Dialogues: The Play!
Coming to New York City Fall 2024
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Plays written by Elizabeth Coplan unless otherwise noted. All plays are suitable for live onstage or on Zoom.
Play
Til Death
Written by Elizabeth Coplan, Directed by Chad Austin
One mother’s choice unveils a family’s long-buried secrets.
As Mary’s life-altering decision sends shockwaves through her loving-but-turbulent family, they all must confront their past, reconcile the present, and pick up the missing pieces in the process.
FILM
Honoring Choices
Honoring Choices is adapted from the stage play Honoring Choices originally commissioned by and performed for Honoring Choices PNW in 2020. Zoom adaptations with diverse casts, including a performance in Spanish, were presented for Reimagine: Life, Loss, and Love and for Honoring Choices PNW in honor of National Healthcare Decision Day in 2021.
PLAY
Hospice: A Love Story
Hospice: A Love Story (14 mins) presents two sisters who appear so close during their mother’s dying days but have vastly differing perceptions of the actual death.
Themes: Death and all its complications – relationship, physical, spiritual.
Play
Honoring Choices
Honoring Choices (17 mins) presents a dying elderly father and his adult daughters who, along with his own doctor, encourage him to prepare his end-of-life plan But he is not having any part of it.
Themes: Family dynamics, disagreements and resentments and the difficulty of discussing end of-life wishes on any level with someone who is not yet ready to accept the concept of their own mortality.
This play is available in culturally appropriate formats including English/Spanish language scripts and a script adapted for African-American cast/audiences.
(Adapted with COVID references)
Play
Untold
Untold (12 mins) presents a young woman with conflicted emotions as she faces giving birth to a stillborn baby. The attending doctor and nurse relive their own stories of child loss – for better or for worse.
Themes: The communication challenges that arise after a stillbirth or child loss and how best to honor a lost child.
Play
Death, Doctor
Originally commissioned for Virginia Mason Hospital
Death, Doctor (10 mins) presents medical doctors in various scenarios from residency to middle age and their association with death.
Themes: The ebb and flow of compassion in the life of a medical provider and its implications for the practice.
Play
Independence Day
by Elizabeth Coplan and Jeffrey Grover
Independence Day (15 mins) features two residents in a family care home, along with their health care worker. One suffers from Early Onset Alzheimer’s, The other from Parkinson’s. We see the residents as their health deteriorates, and witness the challenges of being ready to die and not having planned for it.
Themes: The importance of preparing for end-of-life wishes long before the end-of-life and the impact on those who care for the not-yet-dying.
Play
Life Lines
by Donna Hoke
Life Lines (10 mins) focuses on the grief of a mother struggling to accept the unacceptable death of her young son.
Themes: The need of many struggling through traumatic grief to seek more of the deceased. Memorialization as helpful or harmful?
Play
Dead Giveaway
by Daniel Guyton
Dead Giveaway (10 mins) is a comedy about planning for future. Husband buys a funeral plot to surprise wife for V-day. But, if he dies before her, she’s getting remarried.
Themes: End of Life Planning
FILM
8am
by Mark Harvey Levine (Elizabeth Coplan, Executive Producer)
8 AM (8 minutes) is a thought-provoking film about the moment before everything changes.
Themes: Search for significance and meaning after tragic loss
Starring
Nick Palmieri
Alicia Mendez
Jake Love
Kyle Love
Directed By
Emily Pando
Cinematography By
Jesse Amorratanasuchad
Music by: William Cannon
Edited by: Matthew Macy
Adapted from the play, “LA 8 AM” by: Mark Harvey Levine
Executive Producer:
Elizabeth Coplan
First Assistant Director: Lakell Havens
Production Sound Mixer: Joel Barham
Production Designer: Rita Pando
First Assistant Camera: Tracy Nystrom
Digital Imaging Technician: Jorgen Anderson
Head of Grip and Electric: Chad Courtney
Best Boy G&E: Ryan Zemke
G&E Swing: Marc Wai & Jeremy McClelland
Key Makeup Artist: Lillian Pando
Key Hair Stylist: Stacia Johnson
Associate Producer: Erich Cannon
Key Production Assistant: David Rosen
Production Assistant: Shawn Backstrom
Script Supervisors: Genie Leslie & Ben Wade
Assistant Script Supervisor: Paula Wilson-Nitka
FILM
Juntos Nos Ayudamos - Better Together
BY ENEDINA ENRIQUEZ WITH ELIZABETH COPLAN
Better Together (10 mins) presents a Latino family who lost their son to suicide. They exhibit the silence and social isolation typical in Latino suicide loss survivors, but their teenage daughter encourages them to change.
Themes: The barriers that exist in Latinx culture that prevent families from getting help.