KICK
A DARK COMEDY
BY ANDEE KINZY
the
BUCKET
PODCAST
A fiction podcast series on aging and end-of-life autonomy.
the Kick the Bucket
Podcast Project
Welcome! On Kick the Bucket, we turn the mic to the often unheard voices of the aging and elderly. Hosted by Andee Kinzy and brought to life with insights from seniors and their caregivers, the podcast stitches together deeply personal interviews and real-world experiences with an audio fiction story (like an old-fashioned ‘radio play’). The series offers a fresh take on elder care, aging, and end-of-life autonomy through stories that tickle the funny bone and tug at the heart.
USING FICTION TO SPARK CONVERSATION
Join Dolores and Howard, our daring octogenarian duo with more spunk than spring chickens, as they plot their grand exit from life — on their own quirky terms. Alzheimer’s and cancer are their uninvited guests, but before their children can say "nursing home," Dolores and Howard are making a break for it, in ways that are as laughably imperfect as they are inspiring.
"Funny, achingly personal, heartfelt."
- Austin Film Festival Screenplay Competition
"Very human, very real."
- Blue Cat Screenplay Competition
OUR AGING POPULATION
Medical aid in dying is legal in only 11 jurisdictions in the U.S.*
*Death with Dignity
92% of Americans want to discuss end-of-life care with their family. Only 32% have.*
*The Conversation Project
About 1 in 6 US adults are caregivers to someone 50 or older.*
*AARP (2020)
WHY THIS STORY?
My grandmother had Alzheimer’s. Her descent as the illness ravaged her mind and body was brutal. Once when Grammy and my Mom were checking out at a store, the clerk asked, “Oh, is this your daughter?” My grandmother looked directly at my mom and said, “Well, she's somebody's daughter, but not mine.”
She eventually got to the point where she couldn’t even remember how to eat. My mom told me she never wanted to end up like that - and she knew that my grandmother didn’t want to, either. But in Texas, and much of the country, it’s nearly impossible to live a full life and have the autonomy to choose when to die.
Thus, I wanted to join the conversation about elder care and aging. Luckily, I spent many years adapting and directing Shakespeare for youth. I like to joke that Shakespeare was my writing teacher. He taught me a vital human lesson - you can’t have tragedy without comedy.
This is how Dolores and Howard Kick the Bucket was born. They’re on a road many of us are gonna travel, but Dolores and Howard will help us get there with laughter and mirth.
"So rare, so beautiful... will stay with an audience,
for all the right reasons."
- We Screenplay Competition
This project is supported in part by the City of Austin Economic Development Department.
OUR PARTNERS
ImprovEd Arts is a sponsored project of Austin Creative Alliance.
MEET THE TEAM
ANDEE KINZY (Writer, Director) is an award-winning indie writer-producer-director and Teaching Artist and a 2024-2026 Texas Touring Roster Artist from Austin, TX. With a BA in Drama from UT Austin and training from the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in NYC, Andee has led over twenty Shakespeare for Kids productions, engaging hundreds of students worldwide. She produced the Global Hamlet web series, which features youth from various countries, and organized "Denmark and Dice," a student podcast blending Shakespeare and Dungeons & Dragons. As Festival Director for the Girl Improved Film & Television Festival, Andee inspired girls and nonbinary youth to challenge gender inequality in entertainment. In addition, she served on the boards of CineWomen NY and WIFT Austin, focusing on supporting women in film. Known for her performative, collaborative, and playful projects, Andee’s work includes the recent short film "Shame Full," which delves into mother-daughter relationships and body insecurity. Her favorite herb is cilantro and she has more curiosity than a cat.
DANA WING LAU (Producer) is a Chinese-American actor, writer, producer, and audiobook narrator. She has graced stage and screen in many markets (Chicago, SF, LA, San Diego, Las Vegas) and is a successful commercial actor. She’s recorded multiple audiobooks for major publishers like Penguin Randomhouse, Harper Collins, and Disney. She produces stories centered on marginalized Americans. She has extensive experience as a teaching artist, including San Diego Junior Theatre, Playwrights Project, ZACH Theatre, and more. You can catch her on Amazon Prime’s Unhuman or in Robert Rodriguez’s Hypnotic. A member of AEA, Dana is living up to her self-proclaimed “food monster” moniker by baking and feeding people while dancing in her kitchen to 90s and 2000s hip-hop and wrangling her Muggle husband.
JJ MARTINEZ (Producer) is a first-generation Mexican-American actor, writer, director, and producer, born in Los Angeles and raised on the Texas-Mexico border. He has a degree from the University of Texas and his business career spans healthcare, telecommunications, and government. His passion for the performing arts began at age eight, with a role in Barbarosa, starring Willie Nelson and Gary Busey and directed by Fred Schepisi. In the 1990s, he co-founded the Border Players, a Southwest theatrical company dedicated to bringing Shakespeare to young audiences in rural Texas. JJ has performed in numerous stage productions in Austin and off-Broadway. Recent film credits include portraying "Gordo" in The Giveback (2018). Recent credits under his independent film production company, Dos Tacos y Un Chile Films, are Cassidy vs the Toilet Seat (2023), and writing, directing, and co-producing California Landshark (2024). He also holds a Level 1 Stunt Actor certification and enjoys spending time with his family in Austin.