Where’s Beth? The six members of her grief-support group have shown up, more or less on time, for their weekly meeting, but not their counselor. Now what? In the new play by Domenica (Rinse, Repeat) Feraud, the bereaved take turns kvetching and cajoling, slipping in and out of Beth’s role, figuring out who they are without her. Suppose they’re all projections in Beth’s head as she drifts off to the Great Beyond? “That’s an interesting theory!” says Feraud, whose dialogue shows a clockmaker’s precision. “This play absolutely invites speculation, and any audience member’s interpretation is completely valid. Ultimately, all art belongs to the audience.” But not exclusively! While Feraud specifies age and gender for each of her characters, she stipulates that at least three—any three—be cast with BIPOC actors. The resulting racial subtext arises not from the characters as Feraud conceived them but from the composition of a specific ensemble. No end of permutations are possible. Lost meets Waiting for Godot meets No Exit? “I wanted to write a hyper naturalistic play that also exists in a purgatory/dreamscape,” says the playwright, channeling the upheaval she felt after the death of her mother, “because that is what is most true to my experience of grief.” —Matthew Gurewitsch