The Marsh Adds Free Performances of Brian Copeland's THE WAITING PERIOD

This deeply moving and surprisingly funny work outlines Copeland's own struggles with depression and suicidal thought, and is presented at no cost to remove all barriers for those who may be struggling with depression themselves. Featuring humorous, poignant, and riveting insights, The Waiting Period will be presented March 5, April 2, and April 16, 2023, with performances at 12:00pm Sundays at The Marsh San Francisco, 1062 Valencia St., San Francisco. Additional dates will be announced in the future.

General admission for this performance is free. For more information, the public may visit www.themarsh.org.

"This play saves lives," said Copeland, "Many who have seen it tell me they suddenly recognized their own symptoms or those of a loved one, in time to intervene before they committed the ultimate harm to themselves and devastated their families." For more information about the ongoing fundraising campaign or to help The Marsh meet its $80,000 goal with a tax-deductible donation, please visit https://www.gofundme.com/5kp972-help-us-help-people-with-depression.

This captivating drama provides an unrelenting look at a key turning point in Copeland's life-the mandatory ten-day waiting period before he could lay his hands on the newly purchased gun with which he planned to take his own life. Laced with surprisingly funny moments that serve as a buffer against the grim reality of his intentions, Copeland hopes this very personal, and ultimately redemptive, story will reach people who struggle with depression-often called the last stigmatized disease-as well as their families and loved ones. As critic Sam Hurwitt put it in The Idiolect: "It's a play I'd strongly recommend to anyone who is now or has ever been depressed or who knows someone in that situation. But honestly, it's such a strong piece that I'd recommend it just as heartily to anyone who's ever been human."

The Waiting Period opened in 2012 to overwhelming critical and audience response, and has been lauded by survivors and co-survivors of depression. The show won a Theatre Bay Area (TBA) Award for Outstanding Production of a Solo Play in 2015. Copeland launched this series of free performances to provide an opportunity to reach those who need to see the show, but have been unable to due to the price of admission. A number of people struggling with suicidal thoughts have told Copeland that seeing his piece has literally saved their lives.

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; The Scion, a taken-from-the-headlines tale of privilege, murder, and sausage; the critically-acclaimed Christmas classic, The Jewelry Box; The Great American Sh*t Show, a collaboration with Charlie Varon featuring monologues on life in the Age of Trump; and his newest work GRANDMA & ME: An Ode to Single Parents, which examines the issues of single parenting and asks what it truly means to be a father.

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