ABOUT OBIT
The play takes place at an unspecified time in the future when most of the global infrastructure has collapsed and the internet is largely nonexistent. Maya Hawthorne, an “advance” obituary writer for the New York Times, arrives at aging college president, Philip Stern’s house on the campus of Briarwood College to interview him for his obituary. It is deep winter, the college is shut down, wolves and feral dogs roam the grounds. To many, President Stern represents the best of liberal arts values. He is also an art monster. President Stern hopes this interview will solidify his legacy with a glowing obituary in the Times. Maya Hawthorne wants answers from the man who ruined her life years earlier. This is not a story about sexual assault but it is a female revenge play.
There are two actors and three characters: Philip Stern: college president, early 80s, sharp as nails. Maya Hawthorne: obituary writer for the New York Times, early 40’s. Angela Hawthorne: Maya’s long-dead mother, early 50s. Angela and Maya are double-cast.
These characters are engaged in an intricate dance of charm and cruelty, vulnerability and shame. The obituary writer wants answers. The subject will never be able to read what she writes.
Obit was developed through the NYU/Tisch Graduate Acting Alumni Association Writers Group and had a staged reading at the Studio Tisch Festival, NYU/Tisch Grad Acting (2023). The play was selected as a Finalist in the Tennessee Williams New Orleans Literary Festival Playwriting Contest (2025).
Rebecca Chace’s fifth book, Talking to the Wolf, a novel, is forthcoming from Red Hen Press (May, 2026). Her third play Obit will be produced by Theater for the New City, NYC, in September, 2026.
Rebecca writes obituaries for the New York Times.
Rebecca is also the author of: Leaving Rock Harbor (novel); Capture the Flag (novel); Chautauqua Summer (memoir); June Sparrow and The Million Dollar Penny (for children). Her other plays include: Colette (Freehold Theater Lab, Seattle, WA; Theatre for the New City, NYC) and The Awakening (an adaptation of the novel by Kate Chopin, Book-It Repertory Theatre at Seattle Rep.); Beka 14, a multi-media solo performance received a collaborative artist fellowship at Catwalk Art Residency (September 2023).
Rebecca adapted her novel, Capture the Flag, for screen and television with director, Lisanne Skyler (Best Screenplay Short Film, 2010 Nantucket Film Festival).
In addition to “advance” obituaries, Rebeca writes reviews and nonfiction essays for The New York Times, The Yale Review, The New England Review, The LA Review of Books, Lit Hub, and many other publications. Rebecca has been awarded numerous fellowships and residencies including Civitella Ranieri, MacDowell, Yaddo, American Academy in Rome (visiting artist), Dora Maar House, and others. She is an alum of the Grad Acting Program NYU/Tisch and Bennington Writing Seminars. She is a Faculty Associate at the Bard College Institute for Writing and Thinking.
Photo credit: © Marco Giugliarelli for Civitella Ranieri Foundation
Carolyn Holding is an actor with extensive work in theater, television, and classical stage productions. Her selected theater credits include Billie Jean (Chicago Shakespeare Theater), The Cake (Manhattan Theatre Club), Zurich (New York Theatre Workshop), Rubicon, As You Like It (Denver Center), Proof, Cry It Out (Shadowland Stages), Comedy of Errors, Troilus and Cressida, Cymbeline (Colorado Shakespeare Festival), and The Scene (Dorset Theatre Festival).
On television, she has appeared in The Gilded Age, High Maintenance, Heels, FBI, Bull, and The Blacklist. She holds an MFA in Acting from NYU’s Graduate Acting Program and a BA from Harvard University.
*All actors appear courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association.
Amy Fritz has produced and consulted on many live events including those for United States Artist Foundation, Providence Productions International, Inc. and The Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.
She has stage managed on Broadway as well as being a staff stage manager at The Seattle Repertory Theatre for 11 years. While there, she worked on many world premieres including Eastern Standard by Richard Greenberg, directed by Michael Engler and The Cider House Rules by John Irving, adapted for the stage by Peter Parnell, and directed by Tom Hulce and Jane Jones.
Amy has worked on major motion pictures and television as a consultant, producer, production manager and in the art department as coordinator and art director. Her film and television credits include: The Ballad of Jack and Rose, written and directed by Rebecca Miller, starring Daniel Day Lewis and The Hoax directed by Lasse Hallstrӧm, starring Richard Gere. She was nominated for a Prime Time Emmy for the HBO feature film, You Don’t Know Jack, directed by Barry Levinson, starring Al Pacino.
Photo credit: © Brigitte Lacombe
