Very Berry Dead

by José Pérez IV

[One Act] The tragic loss of multiple family members brings those remaining back to the farm to bury the dead in the ancestral cemetery. However, Vermont state burial laws turn out to be a bit more strict than imagined, and space is getting tight in the old family graveyard. Who gets in, and who gets ditched? That’s left up to the head of the family, the two feuding grown children, a rancher, a pagan, a visitor...

[One Act] The tragic loss of multiple family members brings those remaining back to the farm to bury the dead in the ancestral cemetery. However, Vermont state burial laws turn out to be a bit more strict than imagined, and space is getting tight in the old family graveyard. Who gets in, and who gets ditched? That’s left up to the head of the family, the two feuding grown children, a rancher, a pagan, a visitor, and the town health officer who was not prepared for this kind of circus.

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Very Berry Dead

Recommended by

  • Playwrights Foundation: Very Berry Dead by José Pérez IV
    “

    The community of National Committee readers for the 46th Bay Area Playwrights Festival advanced VERY BERRY DEAD as a Semi-Finalist at Playwrights Foundation. We were highly engaged by this look into intergenerational family trauma around death, with stylistic fast pacing and twists that made this an enjoyable read. We were engaged by the theme of hope in mending broken families, as well as the humor and tender moments in a blended family with hurts, secrets, and misunderstandings. We hope this play is considered for further development and investigation, and finds dedicated collaborators in...

    The community of National Committee readers for the 46th Bay Area Playwrights Festival advanced VERY BERRY DEAD as a Semi-Finalist at Playwrights Foundation. We were highly engaged by this look into intergenerational family trauma around death, with stylistic fast pacing and twists that made this an enjoyable read. We were engaged by the theme of hope in mending broken families, as well as the humor and tender moments in a blended family with hurts, secrets, and misunderstandings. We hope this play is considered for further development and investigation, and finds dedicated collaborators in this play’s journey towards production. #BAPF46

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    ”
Almost all of the characters have been written in a way that they could be either cisgender men or cisgender women. SIMS could be any gender, does not have to be cisgender. Though, the actor playing SIMS will likely also play SAM and MCGILL, who are cisgender people. Besides potentially SIMS, none of the characters are nonbinary, genderfluid, genderqueer, or transgender, though they could be played by actors who are, should those actors be comfortable taking on the roles and being addressed using binary gender pronouns.

Development History

  • Reading, Big Storm Performance Company, 2022
  • Reading, University of Pittsburgh, 2022

Production History

Awards

  • Semi-Finalist
    Bay Area Playwrights Festival
    Semi-Finalist
    2023