I NEVER ASKED FOR A GOFUNDME
November 27 – December 20
Written by Jayne Deely; Directed by Charlie Williamson
Our season theme is Making a Living. Making a Life. Each of our four plays invites us to consider what – and who – it takes to build a life—and how much we depend on one another along the way.
In Jayne Deely’s I Never Asked for a GoFundMe, those questions bring us to a hometown, a queer couple, and a deluge of casseroles. Or, as we might call them around here, hot dishes.
The play follows a queer couple returning to one partner’s hometown, where questions of care, belonging, and charity get complicated. Deely makes room for the heartfelt, the fantastical, and the fabulous—and takes a close look at what happens when people’s ideas about helping don’t line up with what someone actually needs.
But, as always at Theatre B, the primary reason we chose this play is the conversation it can inspire.
What does it mean to care for someone? Who gets to decide what help should look like? And can we offer support without overstepping or attaching expectations about how someone should live—or who they should be?
These questions connect I Never Asked for a GoFundMe to the heart of Making a Living. Making a Life. Building a life involves more than meeting our material needs. It also means finding belonging, being recognized for who we are, and having a say in the care we receive.
We’ve been working toward this production for two years, including a residency with playwright Jayne Deely this past winter and a reading during FM PRIDE 2025. Now, Charlie Williamson makes their Theatre B directorial debut, with Ensemble member Rachel Geinert serving as stage manager.
As Artistic Director Jon Micheels Leiseth shared at our season preview, “Jayne Deely does not shy away from the heartfelt, the fantastical or the fabulous—thank goodness!”
We’re excited to bring you a play that makes room for all three—and leaves us with plenty to talk about this holiday season.
FRANKENSTEIN
Adapted by Nick Dear from the novel by Mary Shelley
October 9 – November 1
Directed by Matthew Dryburgh
In the words of Artistic Director Jon Micheels Leiseth, our theme for the coming season is Making a Living. Making a Life. And yes—every one of our four plays has something to say about livelihood. We’ve got farmers and a former waitress; a group of gravediggers and a pair of grave robbers; a graduate student, a pharmacist, and a politician…and then, of course, there’s Victor Frankenstein and his rather lively career…
Frankenstein is a different kind of fantastical—one that borders on nightmarish. And yes, we planned accordingly: it closes Halloween weekend.
Nick Dear’s adaptation of Mary Shelley’s novel is smart, theatrical, and it moves fast.
But, as always at Theatre B, the primary reason we chose this play is the conversation it can inspire.
At the center of Nick Dear’s adaptation is the Creature—brought into the world innocent and bewildered, then abandoned by the person who created him. He encounters cruelty and rejection and eventually turns back toward his creator, forcing us to look at both of them and ask: Who is the monster?
And underneath that question are others that feel remarkably contemporary: What responsibility do we have for what we create? What happens when our ability to create something moves faster than our understanding of its consequences? And what do we owe a life once we have brought it into the world?
That’s where Frankenstein connects to the larger question of Making a Living. Making a Life. Victor discovers that creating life and taking responsibility for that life are two very different things.
It’s gothic. It’s haunting. It moves fast. And we hope it leaves you with plenty to talk about on the way home.
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