Pineapple and Other Options Toolkit

Digital Engagement Toolkit

Pineapple and Other Options

This toolkit accompanies Pineapple and Other Options, a play about suicide intervention, illness, body loss, survival, and the fragile, stubborn ways people give one another air.

The play follows a real-time conversation between a crisis hotline volunteer and a woman in immediate distress, exploring what it means to feel disposable, to lose trust in your body and your future, and to be pulled back toward meaning through humor, memory, history, and human connection.

You can use this toolkit before viewing, during a classroom or community discussion, or afterward as part of writing, reflection, or group conversation.

Content note

This play includes discussion of suicide, suicidal ideation, cancer, mastectomy, medical trauma, depression, and emotional distress.

Educators and facilitators are encouraged to provide advance notice, allow participants to step away if needed, and share support resources appropriate to their setting.

Quick information

Who it is for: Educators, students, audiences, community groups, and facilitators.

What it supports: Viewing, discussion, reflection, and guided engagement connected to Pineapple and Other Options.

How to use it: Move in order or choose the sections that best fit your group, schedule, and setting.

Start here

Ways to use this toolkit

In a classroom: Use the play to discuss crisis response, storytelling, education, and how systems can either sustain or fail people.

In a community setting: Explore illness, grief, body change, purpose, and the role of connection in survival.

For individual use: Reflect on the play’s questions about mattering, despair, interruption, and the stubborn work of staying alive.

What you can do with this toolkit

  • Explore how suicide intervention unfolds in real time, including uncertainty, fear, and imperfect responses.
  • Reflect on how illness, mastectomy, phantom pain, and medical debt reshape identity and self-worth.
  • Examine how healthcare and education systems contribute to despair, exclusion, or survival.
  • Consider how history, teaching, and storytelling become forms of connection and resistance.
  • Discuss what it means to matter in a world where people often feel invisible, burdensome, or replaceable.

Frequently asked questions

Is this toolkit only for schools?

No. It is designed for students, educators, audiences, community groups, and facilitators.

Does this production include sensitive material?

Yes. The play includes suicidal ideation, overdose, cancer, body trauma, and emotional distress, so facilitators should prepare participants accordingly.

What makes this production especially useful for discussion?

The play combines crisis intervention, dark humor, illness, education, history, and survival, making it especially rich for conversations about despair, dignity, and the ways people help one another remain in the world.

Need help?

If you encounter a barrier, please
contact Arizona Theatre Matters.