Embalming Play
by Lauren Eileen Henke
Saturday, July 11 at 12:40 pm
Sunday, July 12 at 2:15 pm
Reynold Auditorium
Running time: 50 minutes
Rating: Mature (includes mature language and/or references)
Content Warning: Depictions of death, details of the embalming process, and disturbing images. Discussion of violent crime.
first produced 2025 Spaghetti Festival
an annual showcase of boundary-breaking experimental comedy and live performance in Los Angeles.
What to Expect
Lauren Eileen Henke is an actor, creator, and licensed embalmer. This probably wasn’t the triple threat you were expecting, but here we are.
Embalming Play is Lauren’s playwriting debut, an autobiographical fever dream of vignettes and theatrical musings drawn from her experience working as an actor and embalmer in LA. It explores morbid fascination, aging & vanity, ambition & burnout, intimacy with both the living and the dead, and the surprising overlap between Hollywood, embalming, serial killers, and American culture.
The play first premiered at the Elysian Theater’s 2025 Spaghetti Festival and was revived for additional workshopping in April 2026. Now back from the dead once more, it will be presented at DOTS for its third iteration.
special Thanks
The Elysian Theater, Jacquelyn Landgraf, David Henke, Karen Neubauer, Bailey Sawyer, Lisa St. Lou, Reilly Hilbert, Jared Solomon, Grant Terzakis, Rose Hills Memorial Park and Mortuary
Original Cast: Chelsea Rind, Elizabeth Benjamin, and Bailey Sawyer
April Cast: Alice Kors, Sam Vita, and Bailey Sawyer
Such a potent and powerful conversation about aesthetics and dying. With Lauren’s incredibly unique experience and thoughtful, intentional performance leading the way, the audience is able to consider their own relationship to death, aesthetic value, and bodily autonomy. The team in infuses humor and playfulness throughout which only makes the underlying themes more impactful. After spending some time with this play, I walked away thinking about how impossible it is for AFAB people to feel truly safe in our culture, and how proximity to death only makes it more mysterious. 10/10 can’t wait to see where this play goes next!!!
Lauren Eileen Henke
Playwright, Self, Assistant Director, Producer
Lauren Eileen Henke is an actor, writer, director, and producer from Overland Park, KS. She is also a licensed embalmer who spent the last three years working at the largest mortuary in the nation. Lauren has a BFA in drama from NYU Tisch School of the Arts and an Associate’s degree in Mortuary Science from KCKCC. Her very first play premiered at The Elysian Theater’s Spaghetti Festival in November 2025, written and developed over the course of just two months. Her first independent short film, “Toxic Summer”, was shot in Missouri and is currently screening in festivals throughout the country. Lauren is passionate about art that explores juxtaposing ideas such as finding beauty in the grotesque, meaning in the mundane, and humor combined with horror. https://www.instagram.com/laureneileenhenke/
“Smart, sassy, sexy, and so much fun.”
“The realness is so refreshing. Nobody is real these days.”
“We cried, we laughed”
“Intimate and real and feverish”
Bailey Sawyer
Director and Reaper 1
Bailey Sawyer is a Brooklyn-based actress from Mobile, Alabama. She attended NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she earned her BFA in Drama. She most recently appeared in Toxic Summer (Winner – Best Supporting Actress, Frightfilm Competition). She’s trained with Atlantic Acting School, Stonestreet Studios, Shakespeare & Company, and UCB. https://www.baileysawyer.com/
IG: @_instabailz_ // https://www.instagram.com/_instabailz_/
Hannah Herzog
Reaper 2
Bio coming soon
Korah Leigh
Reaper 3
Bio coming soon
“Beautiful and poignant”
“All the feels”
“Working on this show has been a healing experience”
“Star-making”
A Special Thank you!
DOTS would like to extend a very special thank you to Springfield Little Theatre Education Department at The Judy for your continued support of our efforts to produce original theatre in Springfield Missouri.
We are also grateful to Springfield Regional Arts Council for believing in our mission.
Devising Original Theatre Springfield is a 501c3 Organization.