CHECK IT OUT

Start Reading

Gray Harrison and Calista Robbins 2/24/26 Gray Harrison and Calista Robbins 2/24/26

‘Ashes, Ashes’ Snapshots Family, Grief, Humor in Kenmore

Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down, written by Gretchen Douma, premiered February 5-8 at As If Theatre. The play, with its familial themes and living room-confined location suited the small, homey venue well. Staff greeted guests with warmth, ensuring all felt welcomed into the budding Kenmore arts community. Upon entering the Kenmore Community Club, a donation-based concession stand sold fresh, homemade cookies which added a unique layer of care, commitment, and connection to the performance and the theater space that often goes unfelt by patrons at larger venues.

Gray Harrison and Calista Robbins 1/31/26 Gray Harrison and Calista Robbins 1/31/26

As If Theatre Debuts New Works Program with ‘Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down’

Described as a “dramedy about what happens when the skeletons in the closet meet the ashes in the jar,” Ashes, Ashes is Gretchen’s first full-length play produced for the stage. The playwright has over thirty years of experience as an actor, ten years of writing as a theater critic, and more recently joined the storytelling community à la The Moth. She first began developing the idea for the play in 2017 while taking a playwriting class with Rebecca Touriño Collinsworth, founder of Parley Productions.