‘The Tin Woman’
7:30 p.m. Thu., Fri. & Sun., Sat. 2:30 & 7:30 p.m., the Historic Mounds Theatre, 1029 Hudson Road, St. Paul. $25-$35. 100percenthumantheatre.com

For theater couple Joy and Michael Pearce Donley, their latest production couldn’t be any more personal. Five days after his 16th birthday in December 2016, Lewis, their son, died by suicide. In their grief, the Donleys donated Lewis’ organs, corneas and tissues, which helped improve the lives of over 60 people. Now the couple are working on the area premiere of Sean Grennan’s dramatic comedy about a young heart transplant recipient. “The grief isn’t as hot and close to the surface as it used to be, but in a show like this there are moments where I’ve lost it,” Joy said. “Life is running from the gamut of sorrow to the greatest of joys. This show captures grief, but you also laugh all the way through.” Elizabeth Efteland plays the lead in a cast that includes Dorian Chalmers and comic wit Greta Grosch. Joy directs and Michael Pearce does sound design.

ROHAN PRESTON