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My third play, Obit will premiere at Theater for the New City this September, in the heart of the East Village in New York City. I’m elated that Theater for the New City is producing. Artistic Director, Crystal Field is a revered member of the New York theater community. Theater For the New City is a small off-off Broadway theater with huge ambitions and limited resources, and I also need to raise money to support the production, in particular the artist fees. It truly takes a village to make a play. So I’m turning to you, my friends and supporters.
It’s hard to ask, but I’d be so grateful if you could help out by our June 30 deadline.
$23,871.26 raised
33 donations
20 days left!
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Receive a signed copy of Rebecca Chace's new novel, Talking to the Wolf.
$100
Receive a signed copy of Talking to the Wolf, and a $25 gift certificate to the Strand Bookstore.
$250
Receive two tickets to opening night, September 17, 2026 and receive a signed copy of Talking to the Wolf.
$500
Receive two tickets to opening night, a signed copy of Talking to the Wolf, and a copy of the "Book of the Dead," a collection of New York Times obituaries from the paper's archives.
$1,000
Receive a limited edition print by Brooklyn artist, Ken Buhler, from his "Birdlands" series; a collaboration with Cecily Parks, and Jungle Press: https://www.kenbuhler.net/prints
$2,500
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Theatre for the New City Foundation Inc is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Your contribution is tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law, minus the fair market value of any goods or services received.
Theatre for the New City is producing this play, which means they are generously providing the theatre, rehearsal space, some technical equipment, front of house staff and basic marketing support. But to give the work the best possible production, even on a shoestring budget, I need to raise $35,000. Most importantly, to pay the artists decent fees for rehearsal and performances. Additionally, there will be costs for designers, crew, production materials, and additional publicity/press.
The idea for Obit grew out of my side-gig writing “advance” obituaries for the New York Times. These are obits written before people die, and I sometimes interview my subjects for an obituary they will never read. In these high-stakes conversations, I found myself questioning who gets to decide who matters and who doesn’t?
The play takes place at an unspecified time in the future when most of the global infrastructure is collapsing and the internet is largely nonexistent. It is deep winter when Maya Hawthorne, an “advance” obituary writer for the New York Times, comes to interview aging college president, Philip Stern, at his house on a small campus north of New York City. The college is shut down; wolves and feral dogs roam the grounds. While President Stern seems to personify the best of liberal arts values, he is also an art monster who hopes this interview will memorialize him in an adulatory Times obituary.
Maya has another agenda.
This is not a story about sexual assault but it is a female revenge play that raises uncomfortable questions about gender, power, and collateral damage. I also hope it gets some laughs.
At the moment we are in conversation with directors, and finalizing casting. We are putting together an outstanding design team. I’m thrilled that the extraordinary Amy Fritz is on board as a consulting producer for the project.
Theater for the New City, a legendary stronghold of the downtown theatre scene, produced my very first play, Colette, back in the 1990s, when I was a “baby-playwright." Premiering Obit at TNC feels like coming home.
I hope you’ll be able to help us give the play a first-rate production, and please make plans to come see Obit this Fall. The play will run from September 17-October 4, 2026.
All donations, large and small, will receive our eternal gratitude. Not kidding. Forever.
Warmly,
Rebecca
