How to Survive the End of the World It's All Holy and it's All Ridiculous with The Bengsons
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May 22, 2026 Sean Bengson, composer-performer who makes theatrical music with his partner, and Abigail Bengson, singer-songwriter and theater-maker, recount their collaboration and the genesis of their grief musical My Joy Is Heavy. They discuss meeting and writing together, transforming private pandemic videos into communal theater, staging miscarriage and grief onstage, and building accessibility and care into their work.
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Instant Band Turned Marriage
- Abigail and Sean met at a party in Queens, formed a band that night, and married three weeks later.
- They wrote their first song the same night and describe their relationship as inseparable from their artistic collaboration.
Private Grief Became Public Ritual
- My Joy Is Heavy evolved from a commission about illness and embodiment into a public grief ritual after Abigail's pregnancy loss.
- The piece moved from solitary pandemic videos to communal theater to un-alone private pain and transform it into collective ritual.
Scale Grief Work Into Community Support
- Move private trauma into communal contexts to transform isolation into shared healing.
- The production expanded from a video project to a 60–70 person theater team, creating resources and shared care for grief work.