The Velocity of Autumn opens at Coffman Amphitheater as Abbey Theater's fall centerpiece

On a summer evening, the grass bowl at Coffman Amphitheater fills with blankets and neighbors — families spread across three tiers of lawn while a band plays under the tent-covered stage. This fall, that same lawn hosts a different kind of evening: The Abbey Theater of Dublin presents Eric Coble's The Velocity of Autumn, a play about an 80-year-old woman who barricades herself in her Brooklyn brownstone and threatens violence rather than let her family move her to a nursing home. Seven performances run Sept. 25-27 and Oct. 1-4, 2026, at Coffman Amphitheater, 5200 Emerald Parkway.

The woman is Alexandra, an 80-year-old artist. Her estranged son Chris returns after 20 years and becomes the family's unlikely mediator. The city calls the production "wickedly funny and wonderfully touching" — a discovery of the fragility and ferocity of life — and recommends it for ages 13 and up.

The playwright's own question

Eric Coble wrote the play after noticing an older neighbor in Cleveland Heights arguing with her children about moving into assisted living. The subject became real to him later: "I thought what I was writing was fiction but some of the groundwork I laid out in the play actually came in helpful when it became time to actually deal with the real life situation," Coble said. "It was like I was telling myself what I was going to need to know in the future" — a question many families in Dublin will one day face.

The Velocity of Autumn premiered at Arena Stage in 2013, transferred to Broadway in 2014, and earned Estelle Parsons a Tony Award nomination for Best Actress in a Play. The Dublin production stars Josie Merkle as Alexandra and Joe Bishara as her estranged son Chris. Bishara, the Abbey Theater's director, is entering his sixth season overseeing the theater's programming.

Outdoors at Coffman

All seven performances are staged outdoors at Coffman Amphitheater rather than inside the 200-seat Abbey Theater at the Dublin Community Recreation Center at 5600 Post Rd. — the building where your kids take swim lessons, where you work out after work, where the city runs its rec programs.

The amphitheater is a familiar spot: three tiers of grass, a raised wooden stage under a tent cover, and no tables or chairs — audiences bring their own blankets and lawn seating. It was built for a crowd, with the lawn providing overflow seating. This is the same lawn where Dublin spreads out for summer concerts. This fall, it's where the city asks you to sit with this story.

The Abbey Theater is operated by the City of Dublin's Parks and Recreation department — the same office that runs the pools, the rec center, and the parks. For this production, the city is the producer, the ticket-seller, and the landlord of a play about a woman fighting her family over where she will spend her remaining years, and whether she gets to control the end of her own life.

Dates, tickets, and the question

The seven performances run Sept. 25 (7-9 p.m.), Sept. 26 (7-9 p.m.), Sept. 27 (1-3 p.m.), Oct. 1 (6-9 p.m.), Oct. 2 (7-9 p.m.), Oct. 3 (7-9 p.m.), and Oct. 4 (2-5:30 p.m.).

Tickets are available online, at the door, or by calling 614.410.4550, with all major credit cards accepted. The city describes Abbey Theater pricing as community prices but has not published a specific per-ticket price for this run.

The city has put the question on its fall calendar. Whether you're ready to sit with it on the Coffman lawn is up to you.