Project Description:
Losing a loved one is doggone hard! Particularly when that loved one is, well, a dog. Or a cat, or really any beloved non-human creature. Because our animals give us something that most people canāt: unconditional love. A fact that the members of the pet bereavement support group, Animal Grievers Anonymous, know all too well.
This group of miserable misfits is led by Summer, the clumsy empath and owner of a pet crematorium. After years of servicing clients mired in the loneliness of grief, she is determined to offer them more than just ashes.
But thatās easier said than done. Because for a group of New Yorkers whose deepest relationships were with their animals, being vulnerable with humans can be hard. But the shared experience of loving and caring for an animal just might be enough common ground for them to begin to connect and open up with each other.
Good Grief explores what could happen if we extended the love and generosity we shared with our beloved animals to our fellow humans. Because while it may look different, at the end of the day, weāre all really just going around sniffing each otherās butts and hoping to find someone to lick, knead, or nuzzle.
Bios:
Tara Amber and Talya Mar are two queer bicultural artists. They met through acting and soon after started writing together. Growing up in binational households they both found themselves seeking a common language within their families and with the world at large, a way to translate love through cultural and linguistic divides. This skill at translation has given them a keen eye towards what both unites and divides us, and a shared sense of humor and curiosity that allows them to bring a lot of heart and levity to topics like death and loneliness.
They are both proud dog parents whose lives would be made much easier if their dogs would only get along as well as they do.
A Little Extra
What do you remember as your earliest creative act?
Tara: My earliest creative act was staging musicals with a cast of stuffed animals on a rug that I named Times Square.
Talya: A late night performance of Edelweiss to an audience of sheep at a friend's farm.