DIRECTOR:   Ashley Aquilla

ORIGINAL MUSIC:   "Lifted in the Light" by Marcia Houston

VOICEOVER ACTOR:   Ebani Edwads

 

On January 3, 2017, Dr. Weems lost her only child to suicide. She was 33 years
old and bipolar. Loss and Found is a one woman performance and workshop
designed to help others on their journey between grief and healing.

 

AUDIENCE
Faculty in the social work and counseling disciplines for professional
development, mental health and suicide professionals, nonprofit organizations
which serve these communities and groups interested in using theatre and
personal experience to explore issues addressed in this work.

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BIO
Dr. Mary E. Weems, poet, playwright, performer, author, and social foundations scholar. Author of thirteen books, most recently: Blackeyed: Plays and Monologues, and Writings of Healing and Resistance: Empathy and the Imagination-Intellect. In 2015, Dr. Weems was awarded the Emerging Artist Award in Literature for her play MEAT about the murder of eleven black women by Anthony Sowell in Cleveland, Ohio, her hometown.

 

BOOKING INFORMATION
Mary Weems is currently booking for next year. Please contact her if interested.

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What people are saying about Loss and Found:

 

On November 4, 2017, Dr. Weems shared the first 13 minutes of Loss and Found as part of her keynote address, “Poetic Inquiry, Empathy and Loss: Poetry as Social Justice Work” at Bowling Green State University’s Poetic Inquiry Symposium. During the workshop component, audience members were asked to respond in writing using their names or anonymously:

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"My cousin, struggling with schizophrenia and the healthcare system of California, threw himself in front of a commuter train. I could not cry for months, my own medication dulling the impulse. Then, suddenly [today], months later, I cried every piece of water I had." 

 

"Loss, especially loss of a child, morphs in my life into fear of loss. As the parent of one child who lives with mental illness and another who embraces heavy substance abuse (which means, let's face it, two children living with mental illness), I know that the late night phone call or uniformed knock at the door can color my future."

 

“When my father died, I wish I had the same kind of fortitude of articulation to express that grief and share it. Thank you for sharing your story with us.”

 

 

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