Brian Copeland's GRANDMA & ME Extends at The Marsh

Due to popular demand, The Marsh San Francisco has announced the extension of GRANDMA & ME: An Ode to Single Parents, the first opening of a new work by the award-winning playwright and actor Brian Copeland (Not a Genuine Black Man, The Waiting Period, The Scion, The Jewelry Box) in nearly seven years. For the past month, Copeland's work, which examines the issues of single parenting and asks what it truly means to be a father, has captivated Bay Area theatregoers - selling out nearly every preview performance.

Dedicated to the memory of Copeland's grandmother, Lena Mae Arbee, this work is filled with Copeland's trademark style of wit, laughter, and tears. GRANDMA & ME: An Ode to Single Parents has been extended through November 19, 2022 (press opening: October 8) with performances at 7:30pm Fridays and 5:00pm Saturdays at The Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia St., San Francisco. For information or to order tickets ($25-$35 sliding scale, $50 and $100 reserved), the public may visit www.themarsh.org.

With Copeland's trademark blend of humor and poignancy, the lauded performer takes audiences on a journey back to 1979 when his mother died suddenly, leaving behind five young children for his bereaved but fiercely protective 57-year-old grandmother to raise by herself. Twenty-two years later Brian found himself in the same single-parent predicament when his marriage ended, leaving him with three children to bring up. Through the lens of time, Copeland is able to compare and contrast the trials of single parenting in the 1970s with the myriad new challenges brought by the dawn of the tech-infused 21st century. With both laughter and tears, Copeland takes a deep look, from both sides, at what children need and crave when a parent is lost, and all the agonizing, infuriating, encouraging, and above all helplessly loving acts that go into being a father.

Brian Copeland (Writer/Performer) has been in show business since he first stepped on the comedy stage at age 18. Soon, he was headlining clubs and concerts across the country and opening for such artists as Smokey Robinson, The Temptations, Ringo Starr, and Aretha Franklin, in venues from The Universal Amphitheater to Constitution Hall in Washington DC. Copeland then branched off into television, appearing on comedy programs on NBC, A&E and MTV. He spent five years as co-host of San Francisco FOX affiliate KTVU breakfast program Mornings on 2 and two years hosting San Francisco ABC affiliate KGO's Emmy Award winning afternoon talk show 7Live. His first network special, Now Brian Copeland, premiered on NBC after Saturday Night Live for West Coast audiences in January 2015. In 1995, KGO Radio premiered The Brian Copeland Show. With his unique blend of humor and riveting talk, the program was the most listened to program in its time slot, reaching more than 100,000 listeners.

Copeland's other theatrical works include Not a Genuine Black Man, the longest-running one man show in San Francisco history; his acclaimed play The Waiting Period, a story of combatting depression; The Scion, a taken-from-the-headlines tale of privilege, murder, and sausage; the critically-acclaimed Christmas classic, The Jewelry Box; and The Great American Sh*t Show, a collaboration with Charlie Varon featuring monologues on life in the Age of Trump.

To post a comment, you must register and login.