Produced by Thomas Moore
​World Premiere
​Playwright and actress Elizabeth Szyman explores the myriad of emotional turmoil, social expectation, and healing surrounding the concept of grief in the year following the unexpected passing of her mother. Part memoir, part study, part guide, “On Your Shoulder” reveals one individual’s journey surviving universal loss.

Producer Bio: ​How often Grief is misunderstood. There seems to be this stigma that once someone were to loose an important person in their life, that they must focus their energy on moving on. That we must learn to let go of this person and move forward in our lives. I am here to say differently. Grief is not linear. It is not a progression. First hand I have had to watch someone I love go through losing the two most important people in her life. I have watched her try and try again to take the weight of loss off of her shoulders to free herself to be the person she once was. The fact is, we always carry the ones we love with us, whether they exist on this earth or the next life, and how we learn to befriend our grief is what defines the next person we shall be as time goes on. Elizabeth and I hope that this show can help others to understand not only how to help those going through the loss of someone, but to hopefully prepare them for what is to come for us all. A big thank you to Carrie for taking this journey with us, Michael Sheeks for creating a space where this was possible and above all Elizabeth. Her strength to be able to share these experiences with others for her own growth and to help others is something I can’t really put into words. She has the purest soul of anyone I know and I’m very fortunate to have her here pushing and supporting me to be the best person I can be.