2021 PLAY/FILM OFFERINGS
All plays are suitable for live onstage or on Zoom*
Written by Elizabeth Coplan unless otherwise noted
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.
Honoring Choices (Originally commissioned for Honoring Choices PNW)
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)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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
8 AM 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