‘Brainsmash’ New Play About Acquired Disabilities Premieres This March

Brainsmash is a new play about a woman adjusting to life after a traumatic brain injury and her newly acquired disabilities in both touching and humorous ways. The show runs from March 2nd through March 19th at 59E59 and is directed by Emma Miller and written by Sophie Weisskoff. The show is presented by 59E59 and The Hearth, an incubator for new works by women, trans, non-binary artists and artists of underrepresented genders.

The story takes place after Maisie gets hit by a car, causing her a traumatic brain injury that alters her life completely. The cast of brainsmash includes Andrew M. Duff, Julia Greer, Beth Griffith, Emma Kikue, Paola Sanchez Abreu, and Julia Weinburg. It will feature scenic design by Cat Raynor, sound design by Margaret Montagna, costume design by Dan Wang and lighting design by Vittori Orlando. Siena Yusi serves as Production Stage Manager.

Forbes spoke with Weisskoff via email. We discussed how the idea for brainsmash came about. We also discussed how the show is accessible to audience members with disabilities and what it feels like returning to live theater.

Risa Sarachan: What inspired you to write brainsmash?

Sophie Weisskoff: A few years ago, I was hit by a car as a pedestrian. I wound up with a traumatic brain injury (TBI), which really changed how I related to the world. Lights became too bright, sounds became too loud, and text doubled. It became very painful for me to look at computers. I’ve had some recovery and found workarounds, but I still manage a lot of these limitations. I wrote brainsmash to communicate what it feels like, both somatically and socially, to have a TBI.

Sarachan: What can audiences expect from this play?

Weisskoff: People don’t always know what to say or how to react to catastrophe, so there are a lot of outrageous social situations. The play can be very fun. It’s also intimate – we see this woman really at odds with her body and her surroundings. And people close to her have to navigate new care work responsibilities – they have to figure out how to negotiate their needs under new circumstances. For me, TBI has not been hallucinatory, but it has been distortive, so this play unfolds in a heightened, warping world, but it is still our world.

Sarachan: How does it feel now returning to live performance? Do you think the rehearsal process or live performance has changed at all because of COVID?

Weisskoff: COVID has definitely injected more caution into rehearsals. Actors wear masks when they aren’t in scenes. We test every three days. The threat of illness-related interruption is particularly risky for a small company, which makes it all the more courageous that The Hearth is doing this show. When we’re able to pull it all off, it feels even more improbable and thrilling than usual. It feels like such a privilege to get to rehearse.

Sarachan: I’ve heard that not only does this play have characters dealing with disabilities, but that it was created with audience members with disabilities in mind. Can you tell me more about that?

Weisskoff: This play has a character with a brain injury, but it also has an autistic character. We want people who will identify with this story to be able to see it, so we’ve approached the process with that goal in mind. We’ve worked to create language, staging, and design that evoke experiences of sensory overload and chronic pain without actually inflicting them. We also cast actors whose identities match those of the characters.

Sarachan: How do you feel theater, on the whole, could improve when it comes to accessibility for artists and theater-goers with disabilities?

Weisskoff: Theaters should hire disability consultants who have disabilities!

Beyond that, I wish box offices had cue lines written out for when strobe light would occur. I wish more theaters mentored, commissioned, and programmed disabled writers. I wish more people understood that invisible disability still counts as disability.

Making theater accessible requires ongoing conversations with disabled people, and it requires the willingness to try hard, get it wrong, and keep trying. It’s all part of making change.

Sarachan: What are you working on next?

Weisskoff: I’m writing a play about a neurologist and a brain injury patient who date. I’m interested in the doctor’s appointment as a form, in how neurological testing breaks people into deficits, and in the ways power play can be healing.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Tickets for brainsmash can be purchased here.