A solo show by Kristen Cosby
When the
Skeleton
Does Not
Stand.
After a successful debut at the Marsh Theater in San Francisco, Kristen's solo show will be appearing at SF Playground's SoloFest in January and be relaunched at the Berkeley Marsh for a six show run March 20th. Tickets available soon!
§ 01 — The Show
About the show.
At once intimate and unsentimental, When the Skeleton Does Not Stand is a clear-eyed meditation on kinship, vulnerability, and the radical act of rising. Kristen Cosby presents this work which chronicles the intense bond between two siblings aboard their father's sailboat where they are physically tethered together. Their bodies and lives diverge as they grow. When one sibling suffers a paralyzing accident, the other begins a complex journey of grief, hope, and movement in order to embrace the fragile beauty of living bodies. A story of love, survival, and the miraculous ways connection can endure through tragedy.
§ 02 — Performances
Upcoming
No dates announced.
Dates come in bursts, and the rooms are small. Leave your email and you’ll hear first. Last performed 22 July 2026 at The Marsh, San Francisco.
No shows announced.
The show plays in short runs in small rooms, announced a few weeks ahead. Leave your email and you’ll hear first. Last performed 22 July 2026 at The Marsh, San Francisco.
No storytelling nights announced.
Kristen tells at story nights around the Bay Area, and the line-ups are set on short notice. Leave your email and you’ll hear about the next one first.
No workshops announced.
Her writing workshops run online through The Writers Grotto and fill quickly. Leave your email and you’ll hear when the next one opens.
No dance dates announced.
Kristen performs with dance projects in San Francisco from time to time. Leave your email and you’ll hear when the next one is announced.
Recently
§ 03 — About
StoryTeller.
Kristen Cosby has lived as a sailor in Maine and an expat in Budapest. Much of her childhood was spent aboard her family’s thirty-nine-foot sailboat off the coasts of Maine and New Hampshire, with her parents, her brother and the dog. Since then she has lived as a hermit in Maine and, for some years now, a San Franciscan.
Her essays have won the Normal Prize in Nonfiction and a Pushcart Prize Special Mention and took her to MacDowell, Yaddo and the Jan Michalski Fondation; she holds an MFA from the University of Pittsburgh, where she also taught.
She has told stories at The Moth, Bawdy Storytelling, Redwood Nights, the Naked Truth and La Cocina’s Voices from the Kitchen, and built solo work at StageWerx and the The Marsh. When the Skeleton Does Not Stand was chosen from open submissions for PlayGround SoloFest in January 2026 and reached The Marsh’s San Francisco Mainstage as part of the Rising Series later that same year.
§ 04 — Contact
Bring the show to your Room.
The rooms are small and the dates are announced a few weeks ahead, so leave your email and you’ll hear first. Presenters, festivals and press: write to Kristen directly.