I’ve been in conversations with Kristin Shepherd about her play, $38,000 For A Friendly Face. We’re starting rehearsals next week on this show that reveals the eccentricities of a host of characters gathering for one reason or another around what should be a "Celebration of Life" at a funeral home run by an awkward, middle-aged man who is absolutely new to running funeral homes. Funny as the story is, it is rooted in an unusual grace. The playwright says the following about why she wrote the play. I thought it was worth sharing. It resonates very much with why we produce the kinds of plays we do here in Rosebud.
“I'm interested in kindness in difficult situations and with difficult people. Someone says a friendly word at the drive-through at Tim Hortons and your life changes for a while. Someone makes sandwiches when your mother dies even if your mother was a difficult woman to like. A husband invites his wife out for coffee days after she leaves the marriage. Something about the simplicity of these acts of love and kindness knocks me over. I thought these things deserved to be on stage.”
Kristin Shepherd
