In the fall of 2022, we put out an open call for writers to submit seven-minute monologues detailing the messiest experience they’d had with romantic love. Nearly 100 artists wrote back from all over the world.

In a sold-out run at the renowned NYC theater Dixon Place in 2023, Crushing probed love in new ways. One writer spoke about self-worth in the wake of being left by her partner after suffering a stroke on her 24th birthday; one discussed interracial love amid the 2020 resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement; another told, with comedic flare, about the day he received an STI diagnosis while in rehab; one told the story of her unlikely engagement.

Now, Crushing returns to the stage on February 27th and 28th, 2025 in San Francisco, featuring a new cohort of writers and their stories. We’re anchored by the belief that romantic love is a connective tissue of the human experience, but for all its universality, it can still feel profoundly isolating. We hope our show is an antidote to that.