Burying Mom

Shantz Theatre kicks off our sixth season with a whirlwind world-premiere Midwestern tour – with stops in Des Moines, Minneapolis, Indianapolis and Chicago!

From the company that brought you such summer sizzlers as A Year in the Life of 25 Strangers Living in a City by the Lake, The Van Gogh Exhibit and The Candid Biography of a Single Chess Table Chosen at Random on an Ambiguous Spring Day in Central Park, comes the latest dark comedy from the Chicago Reader’s “promising young playwright” Matt Fotis. Bouncing between past and present, Paul is forced to negotiate the many layers of his relationship with his mom…or he can just bury her in the back yard.

Paul’s journey to put his mother to rest takes him across time and space, where he meets a bevy of unique women who exemplify various aspects of his mother’s personality. Whether it be advice from his old high school guidance counselor turned cheap therapist, criticism gladly handed down from his annoyingly perfect sister, philosophy from a waitress with a passion for Rocky, or life lessons from his wake-obsessed grandmother one thing is certain – Paul’s life won’t ever be the same.

The world premiere production of BURYING MOM features Shantz Theatre company members, and happily married couple (let’s see what three months on the road has to say!) Matt Fotis and Jeanette Nielsen. Fotis was most recently seen with Shantz Theatre as a cast member and head writer for the wildly successful holiday sketch show Requiem for a Department Store, or how Jesus taught me to shop at Macy’s; while Nielsen was last seen as the leading lady in Shantz’ production of Nick Ryan’s Deviled Eggs.