As of this writing more than 986,545 individuals have lost their lives to COVID-19 in the U.S. alone. The sheer magnitude of the numbers can feel impossible to understand, but Santa Ana’s Breath of Fire Latina Theater Ensemble has found a beautiful, intimate way of putting faces to those devastating statistics. They put a call out to writers to write living altar pieces for those who have passed, 54 writers from around the globe responded to the prompt and their work is collected here.
Named simply The COVID Monologues, each piece illustrates the life of an ordinary person who passed away to COVID-19, memorializing their everyday battles and accomplishments in a tapestry woven with grounding, intimate details, and inspiring in their reflective insight.