A Brief List of Everyone Who Died

by Jacob Marx Rice

Graciela would really like everyone to stop dying. After the scarring loss of her beloved dog Buster at the age of five, Graciela decides that no one she loves will ever die. But stopping death is easier said than done. Time rolls on inescapably and, as she grows, Graciela will, like everyone else, gain and lose the people most important to her to the eternal absence of mortality. Wickedly funny and deeply...

Graciela would really like everyone to stop dying. After the scarring loss of her beloved dog Buster at the age of five, Graciela decides that no one she loves will ever die. But stopping death is easier said than done. Time rolls on inescapably and, as she grows, Graciela will, like everyone else, gain and lose the people most important to her to the eternal absence of mortality. Wickedly funny and deeply humane, A Brief List of Everyone Who Died tells the story of all the deaths that make up a life.

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A Brief List of Everyone Who Died

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  • Kyle Smith: A Brief List of Everyone Who Died by Jacob Marx Rice
    “

    Cathartic and deeply compassionate, this play talks about death by dropping you in it, surrounding you with it, and letting you feel the pain of these character’s loss. With evocative language, simple yet poetic, Rice takes you on a journey that you will definitely need a box of tissues for.

    Cathartic and deeply compassionate, this play talks about death by dropping you in it, surrounding you with it, and letting you feel the pain of these character’s loss. With evocative language, simple yet poetic, Rice takes you on a journey that you will definitely need a box of tissues for.

    ”
  • Nick Malakhow: A Brief List of Everyone Who Died by Jacob Marx Rice
    “

    I loved the structural elegance of this play. It was inventive without being gimmicky. On the contrary the dichotomy between some of the profound and wrenching losses Gracie/Graciella/Grace faces and the more mundane and sometimes humorous episodes so perfectly captures the relationship between humans and death, dying, bereavement, grief, and mortality. Jacob Marx Rice gives us a human, flawed, and compelling central character--the perfect centerpiece to a play such as this. The theatricality of everyone playing multiple ages and some poignant double-casting is just icing on the cake. I'd love...

    I loved the structural elegance of this play. It was inventive without being gimmicky. On the contrary the dichotomy between some of the profound and wrenching losses Gracie/Graciella/Grace faces and the more mundane and sometimes humorous episodes so perfectly captures the relationship between humans and death, dying, bereavement, grief, and mortality. Jacob Marx Rice gives us a human, flawed, and compelling central character--the perfect centerpiece to a play such as this. The theatricality of everyone playing multiple ages and some poignant double-casting is just icing on the cake. I'd love to see this one in production!

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    ”
  • Jan Rosenberg: A Brief List of Everyone Who Died by Jacob Marx Rice
    “

    The only time I will ever approve of a dog dying in a play. (Not a spoiler). This play beautifully examines something that people are so afraid to talk about-the cruelty, heartbreak, and inevitability of death. The more people you love, the more you have to lose, and that is at the center of this funny, inspiring play.

    The only time I will ever approve of a dog dying in a play. (Not a spoiler). This play beautifully examines something that people are so afraid to talk about-the cruelty, heartbreak, and inevitability of death. The more people you love, the more you have to lose, and that is at the center of this funny, inspiring play.

    ”
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