Kira Obolensky, a Mellon Foundation playwright-in-residence with Ten Thousand Things, will be speaking at 8 p.m. Monday in the Pioneer Room of the Memorial Union.

In her lecture titled “Epic, Funny, Sad, Strange, True: The Stories We Tell and Why We Tell Them,” Obolensky will be discussing her work with Ten Thousand Things, the award-winning theatre in Minneapolis. Additionally, Obolensky will share the techniques she uses when thinking about stories, according to the Lectures Program website.

Obolensky has co-created and written seven plays for Ten Thousand Things.

According to the Lectures Program website, these plays have been performed for community centers in urban areas, shelters, prisons, immigrant and adult education programs, psychiatric wards and in the Twin Cities. Obolensky also attended the Juilliard Playwriting Program.

“She is a core writer at The Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis and is also on the faculty of Spalding University’s Low-Residency MFA in Writing Program,” according to the Lectures Program website.

“Epic, Funny, Sad, Strange, True: The Stories We Tell and Why We Tell Them,” is a part of the Pearl Hogrefe Visiting Writers series.

Obolensky’s lecture is free and open to students and the public. Her lecture is cosponsored by the MFA Program in Creative Writing & Environment, the Pearl Hogrefe Fund, Theater and the Committee on Lectures, which is funded by Student Government.