Copeland to Perform ‘Grandma & Me’ at Chanticleers
Brian Copeland is known around the Bay Area as an award-winning actor, comedian, author, playwright, television personality, and radio talk show host. But for one night only—this Saturday, June 3, at 8 p.m.—he’ll be performing “Grandma & Me: An Ode to Single Parents” for a Castro Valley audience.
The play is Copeland’s heartwarming and poignant tribute to the unsung heroes of single parenthood. In this one-man show, Copeland takes the audience on a deeply personal journey, recounting his own experiences growing up with his grandmother as his primary caregiver.
“All of the work I’ve done so far is autobiographical. And this show is a love letter to single parents,” Copeland said. “But it’s not the typical themes surrounding single parenting. It’s about the emotional places that you have to go to deal with traumatized children, especially at the beginning.”
In the show, Copeland revisits his childhood as he examines single parenting in the 21st century. It was 1979 when Copeland's mother suddenly passed away, leaving behind five children for his 57-year-old grandmother to raise alone. 22 years later, Brian finds himself in the same predicament when the end of a marriage leaves him alone with his three kids. Through laughter and tears, he describes the trials of single parenting as he tries to answer the question… What does it truly mean to be a father?
“The idea for the show came about because we were cleaning up my grandmother’s belongings after she passed, and we came across the guardianship paper. I had never seen it before,” Copeland said. “There was something about seeing that paper and having our names and our ages and her age printed out that really made me understand the enormity of what she had done.”
Copeland decided to put the show on at the Chanticleers for two reasons. The first is because he has friends at the 99-seat theater in the Castro Valley Community Park, and the producers are currently in between shows in their season. Copeland also says he wanted to support Chanticleers because theaters have seen a significant drop in attendance of live shows since the COVID-19 pandemic.
The second reason for performing at Chanticleers is that he was inspired by one of its longtime directors, Marylou Ramirez, his 8th Grade teacher at St. Felicitas Catholic School in San Leandro, where Copeland attended. In fact, he says the first time he was ever at Chanticleers was in 8th Grade to see a production of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” which Ramirez directed.
“She’s the reason I’m in show business,” Copeland says. “She’s the one who taught me to love theater, how to love being on stage, and how to love to perform in front of people.”
In addition to “Grandma & Me,” Copeland’s one-man play, “Not a Genuine Black Man,” went on to become the longest-running solo show in San Francisco's theatrical history with more than 800 performances.
His other autobiographical plays include “The Jewelry Box” (about buying a Christmas gift for his mother), “The Scion” (about the homicide of three USDA inspectors at Santos Linguisa), and "The Waiting Period" (about depression).
Tickets for “Grandma & Me” are $30 online and $35 at the door. Visit chanticleers.org or call 510-733-5483 for more information.