Playwright Jake Brasch
Before Jake Brasch was a writer, he was a fan of theatre. “I came out of the womb a musical-theatre-obsessed, 40-year-old gay man,” the Reservoir playwright says. “There’s a home video of me in a diaper singing the entire score of Oklahoma! on a rocking horse. I would try to organize productions of My Fair Lady during recess (everyone always bailed to play soccer).”
Brasch grew up in Denver and went to a public arts magnet middle/high school, which is where they were first introduced to “serious theatre.” They performed in the Denver Center for the Performing Art’s production of A Christmas Carol at age 11 and participated in a playwriting intensive for writers under eighteen at Curious Theatre Company one summer. “That’s where I wrote my first play,” says Brasch; “an extremely self-serious drama about murder and amnesia. I’m sure it was terrible, but it changed everything for me. I’ve been writing ever since.”
When asked about what he prefers to write, Brasch explains that they “generally write comedies about things that aren’t funny. I believe in buffoonery as a gateway to engagement. I aim to create wacky, whimsical worlds that pickle into something deeper and allow folks to expand their sense of what’s possible — in themselves and in the world.” Currently, Brasch has a few “children [he’s] currently raising,” including a play about a housekeeping robot who writes a play about the family he works for (and hates), a play about a retired couple who decide to shake up their ordinary routine (coming soon to the stage, directed by Reservoir director Shelley Butler), and a play about a musical-theatre-obsessed fifth grader who develops an unlikely bond with his occupational therapist.
“I love the theatre,” Brasch says, adding that theatre will always be their “first and foremost love.” He loves the collaborative nature of theatre, saying that writing plays alone at home is his least favorite part of writing.
“I love getting to hear my plays, to receive the essential info that only actors, directors, and designers can bring to the table,” they explain. “When several brains and hearts commit to a play, it takes on a life of its own. It tells you what it wants. For my money, there’s no better experience in the world than crafting a piece of theatre with people you love.”
When writing The Reservoir, he knew he wanted to write about the year he got sober, even if it scared him. “Writing this play was terrifying,” he says. “I wasn’t sure what it would feel like to share the bleakest, most embarrassing, least flattering chapter of my life.”
The story follows young Josh, a queer, recovering alcoholic who has come home to Denver from NYU to get his life together but can’t manage to stay sober. Desperate for camaraderie, he decides to bring his four loveable grandparents on his road to recovery. He drags them to Jazzercise class at the JCC. He pressures them into playing memory games. He forces them to eat spinach by the handful. And eventually, when he can no longer help his grandparents, they begin to help him.
The play parallels Brasch’s own life. They spent a year getting sober and reconnecting with their grandparents. “I was navigating the fog of early sobriety as they were grappling with the onset of dementia,” they explain. “Somehow, we were on the same plane.”
Brasch says he “tricked himself” into writing the play when he didn’t have a pitch for The Sloan Project. The project is a partnership between the Ensemble Studio Theatre and The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, which, per Ensemble’s website, is an “initiative designed to stimulate artists to create credible and compelling work exploring the worlds of science and technology and to challenge the existing stereotypes of scientists and engineers in the popular imagination.”
“Desperate for an idea to pitch,” Brasch says, “I stumbled upon the concept of Cognitive Reserve — the theory that certain activities can help protect against the onset of dementia. I got the commission, and there was no going back. I set out to write a drama about dementia science and ended up with a semi-autobiographical comedy about recovery, family, memory, and Jazzercise. Whoops!”
It definitely worked, because the play was selected to be a staged reading at the 2022 Colorado New Play Summit, was an Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition finalist, and is now being staged as a triple partnership between the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, the Alliance Theatre, and Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles.
The Reservoir is a kind of love letter to Brasch’s first love, theatre. “It demands the plasticity and playfulness of the stage,” they explain. “The audience is essential to the storytelling; the protagonist shares his thoughts in direct address. The grandparents function as a Greek chorus/dance troupe. There are strange and silly moments that could only be accomplished on the stage. While I could imagine a film version of The Reservoir, it would have to change in fundamental ways. This is a play that demands to be a play. I’m proud of that.”
Brasch goes on to say that staging it has been a different beast than developing it through workshops and staged readings. “Staging [Reservoir] has taught me so much about its wild, weird, and magical logic. Getting the gift of three full productions to refine it is extraordinary.”
“I’m still kind of in shock that this story is reaching so many people,” they continue. “I’m used to sharing my work with 30 people at a time in filthy garages in Brooklyn. Can somebody say ‘upgrade’?!”
Although this play tackles tough themes, Brasch is quick to emphasize that it’s a comedy. “I want folks to remember that there’s joy to be found in time of great uncertainty,” they say. “Loving an addict is hard. It’s a constant negotiation between being there for them and setting boundaries. You can’t get someone sober; they have to want it. That being said, hold out hope. Recovery is hard but not impossible. I’m so grateful to have been through what I’ve been through. There’s a lighter, healthier, wilder, funnier, and more joyous life on the other side. Believe in the possibility. The fact that this play has opened so many doors for me has reminded me that my job is to tell the truth.”
Brasch also wants the play to encourage younger people to pick up the phone and call their grandmas. “Grandma has all of your answers, I promise.”
The Reservoir will premiere on the Hertz Stage March 29 through May 4, 2025 – learn more.
