Looking for Lilith Theatre Company’s first ever full-length virtual play will be the world premiere of Good Grief (a stage play, with music) by local playwright, composer and musician Erin Fitzgerald. Originally slated to open March 19, 2020 at The Kentucky Center, LFL’s first "musical” will now open to virtual audiences everywhere on March 19, 2021. Good Grief is about an irreverent and unconventional grief support group. After countless disappointments in traditional group settings, a small non-traditional grief support group has emerged - offering a space for people to explore and express grief in their own ways. But when a new member shows up, the group is tested in unforeseen directions, causing everyone to re-examine their own parameters of grief, and of support. As our community has lived into and through this bizarre season of pandemic and lockdown, grief has become more present, and this hilarious and touching story has become more relevant than ever! 

While the play is about grief, it explores the topic in a way that is comedic, clever, delightful, and deep. Fitzgerald has been a frequent collaborator with LFL, most recently as Composer and Live Musician for Defining Infinity. As part of the Derby City Playwright’s New Play Festival, Good Grief was produced as a staged reading in July 2019. With one LFL company member in that staged reading, one in the audience, and an entire company in a state of grieving, it became apparent upon reading Fitzgerald’s script that it was a perfect match for our season. Director Shannon Woolley Allison said at the time, “When we read this play aloud as a company, it just felt right. We in LFL are very conscious this season of allowing for the whole LFL family (including those artists involved in this show) to have the space, time and support to grieve the loss of Co-Artistic Director Kathi E.B. Ellis, as well as other losses many of us have weathered in the last year, while still continuing forward joyfully with our mission.”  Asst. Director Jennifer Thalman Kepler added, “LFL is in a time of major transition and loss in a multitude of ways, so it seemed like a good time to pull together and produce this lovely, humorous and thoughtful new piece. In this play, the quirky characters find a "family" of misfits where each can grieve in their own way. This story really resonates for us this season on many levels.” Now, in 2021, it continues to have great resonance and relevance for us, as well as for the entire world.

 The characters in the play, as well as the artists involved, reflect many levels of diversity, including people of various races, classes, sizes, sexual orientations, and gender identities, as well as neurodivergent people, with a particular emphasis on the experience of being on the autism spectrum. The losses of those in the onstage support group range from losses of a child, a parent, a spouse, a partner, and a very special kind of cherished friend. Co-Founder/Director Shannon Woolley Allison, Co-Founder/Asst. Director Jennifer Thalman Kepler and Production Assistant Lindsay Chamberlin (all 3 of whom are LFL company members) will be working with a stellar group of long-time and new LFL collaborators and company members. The cast includes LFL company members Meg Caudill (last seen with LFL in Alice in Black and White), Izzy Keel (last seen with LFL in Just Like Us), Morgan Younge (last seen in From Bardstown to Broadway: The Road to Votes for Women), and Jane Embry Watts (last seen with LFL in We.Are.Here.),  as well as frequent LFL collaborator Sean Childress (last seen with LFL in The Patron Saint of Losing Sleep). Designers include company members Jill Marie Schierbaum on Set, Props, and Graphics (most recent LFL production designs - From Bardstown to Broadway: The Road to Votes for Women and Note), Clare Hagan on Music Direction (most recent LFL work on From Bardstown to Broadway: The Road to Votes for Women), Holly Stone on Videography and Graphic Design (most recent LFL work on From Bardstown to Broadway: The Road to Votes for Women), and long-time LFL collaborator Typh Hainer Merwarth on Costumes (most recent LFL design - The Patron Saint of Losing Sleep). 

Good Grief opens virtually March 19, 2021 at 7:30pm and runs through March 31st. Pay-What-You-Can Tickets (with a suggested ticket price of $15 per person/household) go on sale March 1st at noon  - at lookingforlilith.ticketleap.com/goodgrief and www.lookingforlilith.org. Your virtual ticket includes the opportunity to experience Good Grief on your terms and at your leisure, with 24/7 accessibility March 19-31, 2021. Looking for Lilith will host a Good Grief Opening Night Toast, live on Facebook, at 7:30pm on March 19th. Talkbacks with the playwright, cast and production team will take place live on Facebook during the run of the show, with dates and times to be announced in the coming weeks.