Rebecca Chace’s new play, Obit, is a twist on the old story of an academic taking advantage of their student, or in this case their student’s mother. It is full of rich, smart dialogue and opens with the premise that New York Times obit writer Maya Hawthorne (Carolyn Holding) has come to the home of esteemed, aging College President Phillip Stern (the always great Richard Topol) to interview him for his obituary. Most newspapers and television news stations stockpile “advance obituaries” of prominent and public figures. Often, they interview the individuals and family members well before their death so that they may craft a more personal obit and have it ready when needed.

The presentation of Public Records is the records of our lives. Much more than the certificates handed out at birth, marriage, and death. What happened in front of us exploded through dance, song, and storytelling, stepped out from the everyday to the extraordinary: The tap tap tap of water drops as the A/C of the neighbor above you drips onto yours, the music of the constant sirens, the call to prayer of different religious denominations, hyper aware on the subway while simultaneously looking unbothered, what it is like to the live in the proximity of other’s armpits, the coo of mourning doves, pots clunking out of windows during Covid, when the towers fell and we couldn’t look at one another without breaking down, and the reaching out and giving back when the need was present.