A retired suburban wife and mother tragically loses her partner after forty-five years together. So what does she do? The only thing that makes any sense at all. She embarks on her own hero’s journey. A road trip to the middle of the Nevada desert in a twenty-six-foot-long RV.

Based on the experiences of playwright Mieko Ouchi’s mother, Dorothy Ouchi, this irreverent one-woman play tosses us into the passenger seat and takes us on a voyage through the process of grief and the search for meaning and onto the madcap playa of the world’s largest free-form creative gathering as Dorothy discovers the power of art, community, Walmart, and MOOP and the courage to jump back into the deep end of life.

Writer, director, dramaturg, and actor, Mieko Ouchi trained at the University of Alberta’s BFA Acting Program, the Women in the Director’s Chair Program, and the National Screen Institute. Her award-winning films have screened at over thirty festivals, including the Toronto and Vancouver International Film Festivals and Asian American film festivals in San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles, and San Diego. Her plays The Red Priest (Eight Ways To Say Goodbye), The Blue Light, The Dada Play, Nisei Blue, I Am For You, Consent, The Silver Arrow, and Burning Mom have been translated into six languages, been finalists for the 4 Play Series at the Old Vic, UK; the Governor General’s Literary Award; the Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award; the City of Edmonton Book Prize; and Sterling Awards, and have been recognized with the Carol Bolt Award, Betty Mitchell Awards, and the Enbridge Playwrights Award for Established Canadian Playwright. Her work as a director and dramaturg—both at Concrete Theatre where she was Co-Artistic Director and Artistic Director for thirty-one years, and with writers and companies across the country—spans TYA to indie to large-scale work. Mieko now works as Associate Artistic Director at the Citadel Theatre. She lives in Edmonton with her husband Kim and their dog Nara.

Mieko Ouchi's profile page

• Nominated, Gwen Pharis Ringwood Award for Drama

"This is one of the most uplifting plays I’ve come across. Funny, smart, and heartbreakingly honest, the play is about loss, about the kind of grief that can swallow you whole, about the fear you will never be able to face life again, but ultimately it’s about reinvention and courage. And the incredible thing is IT’S ALL TRUE! Dorothy Ouchi is a role model for us all."

Kelly Thornton, Artistic Director of the Royal Manitoba Theatre Centre

"Burning Mom shows why Mieko Ouchi is one of Canada's best playwrights. A hilarious, touching roller-coaster ride through grief, joy, and all the hills, drops, and turns in between."

Vern Thiessen, Governor General's Literary Award–winning author of Einstein's Gift and Bluebirds

"One of the most heartbreaking and original plays I’ve read in a very long time. Ouchi is one of Canada’s finest writers and her virtuosity is on full display here."

David Yee, author of carried away on the crest of a wave and Artistic Director of fu-GEN Theatre