j [ a working title ] by everleigh brenner
Jay sits alone on a bus attempting to write the eulogy for her mother’s funeral, but when she is accosted by a more imaginative version of herself, she is forced to either face her grief truthfully or to be trapped in the web of lies she writes as a distraction. j [ a working title ] is a absurdly comedic exploration of identity… or 4.48 psychosis for the self help podcast generation.
The themes of j [ a working title ] include dysphoria, addiction, generational trauma, how the male gaze and societal pressures affect adolescents coming into their sexuality and how we become the narratives we tell ourselves. We write stories about our lives in an attempt to make meaning out of them: reasons why we love someone, the day that we knew we were queer, how we came to hate ourselves… oops… but if those are all just stories, then how is that any different to theatre? What tells you that the life you are living is your own? And if it’s your own, shouldn’t you be controlling the narrative?