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Obehi Janice talks about collaborating in theater, making her own career success and taking ahold of the character in We’re Gonna Die.

The intimate, quirky play merges life’s ordinary travails with upbeat pop tunes, creating an unexpected sense of comfort while underscoring the truth that we live in a world where pain is inevitable and that there’s not much we can do but take solace in small moments of common-sense connection.

Part storytelling, part musical, and always theatrical, this cabaret-style song cycle boldly goes where many of us don’t really want to go and makes the subject of death less daunting than you might think.

See “We’re Gonna Die” before you do–a New England premiere directed by Shawn LaCount and presented  by Company One Theatre & American Repertory Theater’s OBERON through April 29. Time is short. 

The play blends storytelling, stand-up comedy, music and theater as it tackles the one thing that every human must face: death.

We’re Gonna Die is a unique collaboration for Janice and the live band soundtracking the show—Ethan Selby, Shahjehan Khan, Steve Sarro and Thom Dunn. They come from different backgrounds (music, theatre, stand-up comedy) but have had shared experiences trying to make it work from gig to gig in creative fields.

Director Shawn LaCount says Janice’s fearlessness made her the perfect choice for “We’re Gonna Die,” playwright Young Jean Lee’s combination of funny and frightening stories of family, death, failure, and loneliness, framed within an upbeat, rock concert setting.

A versatile player, the Georgetown grad has spread social awareness (her YouTube short “Black Girl Yoga”), written and performed her own one-woman memoir about mental health (“Fufu and Oreos”) and will now make her theatrical singing debut in this show directed by Company One co-founder, Shawn LaCount.