In”Obit” by Rebecca Chace, Carolyn Holding (L) plays an advance-obituary writer for the New York Times who comes to interview an aging college president, played by Richard Topol (R). What follows is a cat and mouse game in which the journalist demands answers from the man who ruined her life years earlier. The two characters engage in an intricate dance of charm and cruelty, vulnerability and shame. This female revenge thriller will be presented by Theater for the New City September 17 to October 4, 2026, directed by Will Steinberger. Photo/info by Jonathan Slaff.
When an advance-obituary writer arrives to interview a college president about his life and legacy, a routine professional encounter becomes an armed interrogation.
She is carrying a gun, a grievance, and the power to decide how the world will remember the man she holds responsible for ruining her family.
WHERE AND WHEN:
September 17 to October 4
Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave. (at E.10th Street)
Presented by Theater or the New City
Thursdays though Saturdays at 8:00 PM, Sundays t 3:00 PM
$20 gen. adm., $15 seniors & students
Box office (212) 254-1109, www.theaterforthenewcity.net
Runs :90 minutes
Previews September 17, opens September 18.
Play’s website: https://www.obitplay.com/
Author’s agent: Jennifer Carlson at Dunow Carlson & Lerner Literary Agency
New York — “Obit” by Rebecca Chace is a new female revenge thriller written by a writer of advance obituaries for the New York Times. Theater for the New City, 155 First Ave., will present the play September 17 to October 4, starring Richard Topol and Carolyn Holding and directed by Will Steinberger.
Rebecca Chace is a writer of “advance obituaries,” a specialized form of journalism in which newspapers prepare detailed obituaries of prominent living people well before their deaths. The play transports us to a time in the dystopian future, when most of the global infrastructure has collapsed and the internet is largely nonexistent. Wolves and feral dogs are roaming the grounds of Briarwood college when Maya Hawthorne, an advance-obituary writer for the New York Times, arrives at the house of an aging college president, Philip Stern. Her assignment is to interview him for his obituary. She is dressed in a face mask, full body snow suit and boots, carries a gun and wears a headlamp. To many, President Stern represents the best of liberal arts values. But he has escaped blame for his own financial misconduct by framing Maya’s mother, who kept the books at the college. Her dismissal resulted in revocation of Maya’s financial aid (she had a scholarship for children of staff) and a life of disillusionment and struggle.
President Stern is also an art monster, who hopes this interview will solidify his legacy with a glowing obituary in the Times. What follows is a cat and mouse game in which the armed journalist demands answers from the man who ruined her life years earlier. The two characters engage in an intricate dance of charm and cruelty, vulnerability and shame. The deck is stacked in favor of the obituary writer, because the subject will never be able to read what she writes. But she may never actually find out why he ruined her mother, which in turn ruined Maya. It’s a play of interrogation, professional power, and control of a person’s legacy that explores whether revenge can ever produce truth. You can come for the revenge, stay for the suspense, and leave arguing about justice.
Rebecca Chace explains the inspiration for this play came very much from her own work as advance obit writer for the Times, reflecting on her interviewees and musing about who deserves an obit and who doesn’t. Colleges, she says, are like kingdoms, often with a small man on the throne. People’s lives and careers are always at stake.
Amy Fritz is Consulting Producer. Production Stage Manager is Abby Fry. Lighting design is by Dante Olivia Smith. Set and costume design are by Anna Grigo. “Obit” was developed through the NYU/Tisch Graduate Acting Alumni Association Writers Group and had a staged reading at the Studio Tisch Festival, NYU/Tisch Grad Acting in 2023. It was a runner-up in the Tennessee Williams New Orleans Literary Festival Playwriting Contest in 2025.
Author Rebecca Chace is a playwright, novelist and writer of “advance obituaries” for the New York Times. She is also author of five books: “Leaving Rock Harbor,” “Capture the Flag,” “Chautauqua Summer” (a memoir), “June Sparrow and The Million Dollar Penny” (for children) and “Talking to the Wolf” (published in May, 2026). Her other plays include: “Colette” (Freehold Theater Lab, Seattle, WA and Theater for the New City, 1994), “The Awakening” (an adaptation of the novel by Kate Chopin, Book-It Repertory Theatre at Seattle Rep.), and “Beka 14,” a multi-media solo performance (collaborative artist fellowship at Catwalk Art Residency, September 2023). She adapted her novel, “Capture the Flag,” for screen and television with director Lisanne Skyler, winning Best Screenplay Short Film in the 2010 Nantucket Film Festival.
An alumna of the NYU/Tisch graduate acting program and Bennington Writing Seminars, she also writes reviews and nonfiction essays for prestigious publications. She is a Faculty Associate at the Bard College Institute for Writing and Thinking.
Director Will Steinberger is a Drama League Award nominated director and producer. He has directed and developed new plays at New York Theatre Workshop, New York Stage and Film, Clubbed Thumb, The Lortel, New Dramatists, Hartford Stage, the Drama League, Berkshire Theatre Group, Powerhouse Theater, Atlantic Acting School, The Brick, motor company, the Wilma, InterAct, and more. He recently directed “birthday birthday birthday” by Johnny G. Lloyd (The Tank) and “The Berlin Diaries” by Andrea Stolowitz at 59E59 featuring David Greenspan, produced in association with The New Group. Other recent productions include “Inferna: by Joanna Castle Miller (Valdez Theater Conference), “Happy Birthday, Han (JACK)” by Han Van Sciver, “meet you at the Galaxy Diner” by Gina Femia (The Tank and New Light Theatre Project), and “Oedipus 2.0.2.0 (f/ Eddie Cooper)” by Charles Gershman. He has been artist in residence at New York Stage and Film, The Cell, and the Jewish Plays Project, of which he is a longtime collaborator. He has been a guest speaker or artist at many universities. (https://www.wsteinberger.com/).
Richard Topol (Philip Stern, the college president) has Broadway credits including: Lemml in “Indecent” (Outer Critics Circle Nomination), “Fish in the Dark” with Larry David, “The Normal Heart” (Drama Desk Award), “The Merchant of Venice” with Al Pacino, “The Country Girl” directed by Mike Nichols, “Julius Caesar” with Denzel Washington, “Awake & Sing” (Drama Desk Award) and “Cymbeline.” His Off-Broadway credits include “Our Class” (Lortel Award), “Prayer for the French Republic” (MTC), “The Merchant of Venice” (Shylock) and “Dance of Death” at CSC, “King Lear,” “Twelfth Night” and “The Winter’s Tale” at the Public, and new plays at Lincoln Center, Playwrights Horizons, The Atlantic, Primary Stages, The Vineyard, The New Group and Signature Theater. His film/TV credits include Spielberg’s “Lincoln,” “Indignation,” “Mickey Blue Eyes,” “Party Girl” and recurring roles on “Manifest,” “Godfather of Harlem,” “A Man in Full,” “Genius: Einstein,” and numerous guest star appearances. His one person show, “Dad Variations,” has workshopped recently at The Old Globe and New York Stage & Film.
Carolyn Holding (journalist Maya Hawthorne and her long-dead mother, Angela) is an actor with extensive work in theater, television, and classical stage productions. Her selected theater credits include “Billie Jean” (Chicago Shakespeare Theater), “The Cake” (Manhattan Theatre Club), “Zurich” (New York Theatre Workshop), “Rubicon” and “As You Like It” (Denver Center), “Proof” and “Cry It Out” (Shadowland Stages), and numerous productions at Colorado Shakespeare Festival. On TV, she has appeared in “The Gilded Age,” “High Maintenance,” “Heels,” “FBI,” “Bull” and “The Blacklist.” She holds an MFA in Acting from NYU and a BA from Harvard.
Rebecca Chace writes, “I am so grateful for Crystal Field’s longtime support of my work. My first play, ‘Colette,’ was produced by Theater for the New City back in the 1990s. Having the opportunity to premiere ‘Obit’ at TNC feels like coming home. In an era when nonprofit theaters are hard hit by funding cuts and curtailing their commitment to new work, Crystal Field and Theater for the New City remain a beacon on the horizon in the New York theater scene.”
