Homecoming

About the Show

"there’s a mystical and ever-moving line that solo shows sometimes cross into the realm of other worldliness and soul changing. I have seen probably thousands of solo shows and very few cross that line… Homecoming did, almost as soon as the show began."
- NoHo Arts District: https://nohoartsdistrict.com/homecoming-review-hollywood-fringe-festival/

2026 Hollywood Fringe Festival Award Nominations:
Comedic Theatre and StageCrafts Freeway Circuit

2026 Hollywood Fringe Audience Reviews: 
https://www.hollywoodfringe.org/projects/13407?tab=reviews

Dara gets the call that her mom is dying while studying abroad in Australia, and their already complicated mother-daughter relationship suddenly becomes a lot more complicated. On a winding path full of humor, absurdity, and connection, Dara faces the impossible question: How to make amends with a dead mom? What she discovers is deeply personal, universal, and surprisingly hopeful. Just because someone is gone, it doesn’t mean you can’t heal your relationship with them. 

Homecoming, by Moth StorySLAM winner Dara Kosberg, is a dark comedy about grief and identity that follows Dara’s journey of losing a parent and finding herself. 

So please, laugh, cry, or just sit there silently questioning your own life choices, which hopefully don’t involve a ridiculous number of hamburgers, like Dara’s.

Now directed by David Ford, with original direction by Iris Bahr (NYC debut) and David Crabb (LA debut).

Fresh off its SOLD-OUT RUN at Hollywood Fringe Festival, here are certified audience reviews of Homecoming:

• “I laughed, I cried, I called my mom after the show to tell her I love her!”
• “Dara Kosberg is channeling the rollercoaster vibe of the legendary monologuist Spaulding Gray… deftly mixing humor, irony, grief and optimism in her own unique voice.”
• “It takes an incredibly skilled performer to get you to laugh about grief, and Dara does exactly that… It was healing, funny, sad, and uplifting all at once. A must-see!”
• “Emotional whiplash in the best possible sense. Oscillating between tears running down my face and deep belly laughs within less than a minute.”
• “Grief ready for Prime Time. Dara Kosberg performs a solo show that feels like a family sitcom. Her approachable energy keeps the audience dancing above the heavy subject matter.”
• “Vulnerable and totally badass at the same time. I did all the laughing and the crying!”
• “Dara is one of the smartest comedians I think I’ve ever seen in the way that she always understands the best punchline and how to deliver it… Such a beautiful and dynamic show and one that not a single person should miss.”
• “Dara has a lyrical quality as a storyteller and a lightness of touch, even when handling heavy subject matter. There is an infinite grace about her, which makes you lean in.”
• “A wise, funny, and moving meditation on the complexity of grief, time, family, and self told by an endlessly endearing performer.”
• “A definite highlight of Hollywood Fringe.”
• “This is the kind of show that lingers for days afterward— you find yourself revisiting powerful moments and discovering new connections and resonances each time you think about it.”

Dara Kosberg is a storyteller, comedian, writer, and actor. This year she debuted her solo storytelling show “Homecoming” to multiple sold-out audiences in NYC, LA, Chicago and Atlanta. She’s a Moth StorySlam winner and has performed at San Francisco’s Punch Line Comedy Club and Brooklyn’s Union Hall. As part of the Reimagine End of Life arts festival in SF and NYC, she’s produced and performed in comedy shows about grief and loss that demonstrate the healing power of humor. She’s a Founding Team Member of both Reimagine and The Dinner Party, two innovative organizations working in the grief space. 

Director David Ford has been collaborating on new and unusual theatre for three decades and has been an artist-in-residence at The Marsh Theater for most of that time. His award-winning solo shows have been seen all over the English-speaking world. The San Francisco press has variously called him “the solo performer maven”, “the monologue maestro”, “the dean of solo performance”, and “the solo performer’s best friend” and a week rarely goes by when residents of the Bay Area can not enjoy one of his productions. Collaborators include Geoff Hoyle, Brian Copeland, Lorri Holt, Charlie Varon, Echo Brown, Tom Ammiano, Firoozeh Dumas, Marilyn Pittman, Rebecca Fisher, Wayne Harris, Irma Herrer, Bill Talen, and Marga Gomez.