world-premiere production
Read the April 5, 2023 review in The Portland Phoenix
Read the March 25, 2023 feature article in the Portland Press Herald.
Described as "lyrical, mysterious, and moving," Death Wings, by Maine playwright Bess Welden, unfolds over the last 100 minutes of Grand’s life - her memories, visions, feelings, and questions that help her discover the five sentences that tell her final story. She's dedicated her life to making wings that she believes helps others die, and to raising her granddaughter Rachel, a scientist who is determined to fly. Full of poetry, songs, and a radical re-visioning of the Daedelus/Icarus myth, Death Wings asks us to marvel at the wonder of flight - real and metaphorical - and the mysteries of human love, connection, loss, and letting go.
Winner of the 2020 Maine State Prize of the Clauder Competition for New England Playwrights, Death Wings has been developed with Fresh Ink Theatre at the Boston Center for the Arts and with Portland Stage, Pawling Theater Exchange, Real Live Theatre, and Colby College.
Past Performances
March 30 - April 8, 2023
at The Theater Project, Brunswick, ME.
April 20 - 29, 2023
at Meetinghouse Arts, Freeport, ME.
Photo & video by Phoebe Parker