Grief: A One Man Sh*tShow

A comedic and heartbreaking exploration of profound grief – get ready for a rollicking bad time.

After a drunk driver kills both his teenage children, Campbell channels his shock, rage and anguish into a tragic-comedic exploration of our culture’s inability to talk about grief. Campbell gets into the weeds of grief – what happens to the marriage after the kids are killed? How do you ever get back to having sex? What do you say to people in grief? Campbell discovers that no one knows how to talk to him. His grief is too scary. He turns to grief groups and grief books but finds no relief from his fury. And then, against his will, Campbell finds his heart stretched and his compassion grow for others in grief, as he starts to pull apart his own misconceptions about loss and heartbreak, discovering other, deeper layers of loss that he had never even thought about. What begins as the feel-bad show of the year turns surprisingly redemptive. And it’s funny, too, believe it or not.

“You need to go see Colin Campbell’s Grief: A One Man ShitShow… Colin is using theater as a guide, not for his soul, but for ours… it’s a difficult journey but it’s never selfish and never exploitative… You will be glad you went… you will feel better and your soul a bit bigger for having experienced it.”
– Anthony Byrnes, NPR
Best of Broadwater Award – Hollywood Fringe Festival

We’ve lost the insights of the ancient Greeks, and no longer know how to process intense grief, or talk to the grieving. People are often too scared to say anything other than “there are no words.” Colin Campbell gives words to grief. After a drunk driver killed both his teenage children, Campbell channeled his shock, anguish and rage into this tragic-comic exploration of our culture’s inability to talk about grief. Campbell will take you to the most terrifying places imaginable, and then back again. This show is not about healing, or catharsis or an afterlife. This show is about life and death and mourning. Comedic and heartbreaking, profound and profane. Get ready for a rollicking bad time!

 

About the Creative Team

Colin Campbell (Writer, Performer) is a writer and director for theater and film. He was nominated for an academy award for Seraglio, a short film he created with his lovely and talented wife, Gail Lerner. His production of The Ballad of Ricardo Flores Magon at the Ford Theater was broadcast on KCET TV. His Variedades on Olvera Street was also broadcast on KCET TV. His production of his play, Golden Prospects was nominated for five LA Weekly awards and was Critic’s Pick in TimeOut NY and LA Times. His webseries, Dealbreakers, is on Amazon Prime. Colin has written and directed for Instant Films, winning Best Writer, Best Director and numerous Best Film Awards. He has taught Theater and/or Filmmaking at Chapman University, Loyola Marymount University, Cal Poly Pomona University, Relativity Education, and to incarcerated youth through The Unusual Suspects. He has worked with numerous theater companies in LA including Cornerstone Theater, Actors Gang, A.S.K. Theater Projects, Taper New Works Festival, Theater Neo and Neurotic Young Urbanites. Colin is currently writing a book for TarcherPerigee, an imprint of Penguin Random House, titled Finding the Words: How to Work Through Profound Loss with Hope and Purpose.

 

Michael Schlitt (Director) is a founding member of the Actors’ Gang theater company, two-time winner of the FringeNYC’s Outstanding Solo Performance award, and a co-recipient of the LADCC Margaret Harford award for outstanding contribution to Los Angeles Theater. By day, he worked in creative marketing for almost 20 years, producing TV commercials for multiple campaigns—The Social Network, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, The Amazing Spiderman and others. His radio reporting can currently be heard on KCRW’s Unfictional and Greater LA. His original podcast series Early Bird Special is available on itunes.

 

Grief: A One Man ShitShow is recommended for adults and appropriate for ages 14+

 

For More Information

Premiered in the 2022 Hollywood Fringe Festival to Sold Out audiences

Won Best of Broadwater Award 

Click here for a clip of the show to find out more!