By Liz Eichler, ATCA
Dorodango. Look it up…
It’s the art of polishing dirt into something lovely—a small act of transformation. It’s also the hobby of one of the fourteen Fitchwood family members who died in a freak fireworks accident in Fourteen Funerals. And like that polished sphere of earth, Eric Pfeffinger’s play is less about death than what we do with the messy material we’re given.
The Story and Characters
Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati presents Fourteen Funerals through April 12, 2026. This two-person show balances dark comedy with reflection. There are plenty of laughs, and food for thought. The story follows Sienna, an urban writer summoned to a small Indiana town for the funeral of a relative she never knew, only to discover she’s expected to eulogize fourteen of them. Alongside Millie, the funeral director’s daughter, she begins to piece together not just the lives of the deceased, but her own.
Shonita Joshi and Maggie Lou Rader reunite after their earlier collaboration in Holmes and Watson Apt. 2B at Human Race Theatre in October 2024. Their chemistry anchors the production. Joshi brings a restless, searching energy to Sienna—a woman untethered, trying to find direction without the expectations that once defined her. Rader’s Millie, by contrast, is firmly moored to her small-town life, grounded in routine and obligation, yet quietly aware of everything she has yet to explore. Both are expressive and have a gift for physical comedy. Together, they create a dynamic that feels both immediate and recognizable: two women navigating the same uncertain waters from opposite shores.
The small town is Blissfield, Indiana, population 6,000. Millie knows everyone in the town. She says she is happy…enough. Sienna from Chicago, is a struggling writer, originally on a path to fulfill parents’ expectations of being a doctor, lawyer or business chief. But they died and she is now without a wind in her sail. The two get to know each other while getting to know the Fitchwood family. They spar and challenge each other, and secrets get revealed. These performers work well together.
The Production Team
Director Torie Wiggins keeps the staging fluid and often playful, though the production takes a moment to find its rhythm. The early scenes lean heavily on exposition, with pacing and dialogue that doesn’t always trust its audience. Once the production settles in, however, it finds a stronger and quicker current, thoughtfully exploring expectation, identity, and the fear of change.
The design elements add to the storytelling. Brian c. Mehring and Shannon Rae Lutz create a visually striking set—perhaps more polished than one might expect from a long-standing small-town funeral home, though that heightened aesthetic underscores the play’s tension between appearance and reality. Trey Tatum’s sound design and Mehring’s lighting add clarity and a welcome sense of humor, marking each funeral with precision and wit–and a firecracker or two. Cat Schmeal-Swope’s costumes feel authentic, with details that subtly reinforce personality—especially the shoes.
Overall
Hopefully, the show will spur on some conversation–or self reflection–on the road home. Full of laughs, Fourteen Funerals explores the lives we inherit versus the ones we choose. Sienna and Millie each grapple with what it means to move forward, to make the leap into change. Their conversations reveal how easy it is to shape ourselves around obligation rather than intention.
I keep coming back to those polished spheres of dirt—dorodango. Between Chicago and Blissfield, the landscape would stretch wide and open with fertile fields of earth with nothing to conceal. And yet, from that same dirt, something deliberate and memorable can be made. Fourteen Funerals asks whether we are truly shaping our lives with intention, growing something, or just holding onto what we started with.
Fourteen Funerals runs through April 12, 2026, at Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati. Get tickets HERE.
