Why do tears sometimes roll down our faces when we hear Adele’s “Someone Like You”? Why do we turn to certain songs when we’re sad? What is it about those songs—the musical devices? the heartfelt stories?—that helps us work through our pain? And why the hell do they hurt so good?

These are the kinds of questions theatre artists Jane Miller and Brian Quirt became intensely interested in after reading about a scientific study into such matters. And the pair, who had worked on several shows together in Toronto, began to search closer to home for examples of the way music taps emotion.

“We started looking at these studies and collecting anecdotal evidence; we looked at my and his own experiences—the songs that move us both on a scientific level and on a connection level,” Miller, a veteran actor, singer, and composer, explains over a hands-free phone, driving between her Toronto home and Muskoka cottage.

Around the same time, Quirt, the artistic director at T.O.’s innovative Nightswimming Theatre, had been looking to do a show at Vancouver company Boca del Lupo Theatre’s intimate-to-the-extreme Micro Performance Series. “Three years ago he saw a show at the Fishbowl,” Miller says, referring to the tiny Granville Island space where Boca hosts the series, “and he thought, ‘What do I want to make for this stage?’ So the Micro Performance Series really intrigued him.”

The result of all this inspiration is These Are the Songs That I Sing When I’m Sad, a solo show in which Miller will gather a small crowd of about 18 or 20 theatregoers around her piano in the Fishbowl space. In it, she’ll use storytelling and songs to illustrate both the scientific research on music and her own memories of songs that have helped her get through losses in her life.

The research, she emphasizes, will illuminate the musical elements that work your heartstrings, but won’t ruin your favourite sad songs for future use. “Even once you show how it works, it’s not a case of it not working anymore,” she reassures. “That’s why we keep coming back to sad songs!”

Describing the work, Miller makes it sound like a mix between cocktail party, concert, and TED Talk. In fact, she and Quirt have test-driven the piece in people’s houses to prepare for the Fishbowl. And the gourmet bar hobbyist has even designed a signature cocktail for the show here (in alcoholic and nonalcoholic versions).

“I call it Tears of Joy,” she enthuses. “It’s equal parts vodka and ginger-infused simple syrup, with soda and fresh lime juice. I’m thinking of putting in fresh oregano or thyme. And then it’ll be served on the rocks with a couple of quartz crystals so there’s ‘tears’.”

More than just a way to drown your sorrows, the drinks add to the intimate atmosphere Miller wants to build. “There’s a hospitality piece to me,” she explains. “That’s why the two home concerts explored that even more.”

Working in a bit of interactivity, the show draws from her vast experience as a performer and singer who’s opened for everyone from Jeff Buckley to Ani DiFranco. “Years ago, I used to tour in two different kids’ shows…and what children’s audiences teach you is they don’t hold back. They’ll tell you exactly what they think of the show,” the affable Miller says with a laugh. “I have learned to be very attuned to an audience due to kids’ shows and touring the stink out of them.

“And when you have done any singing performance, you have to talk to your audience,” she adds, explaining there’s nothing resembling a fourth wall in These Are the Songs That I Sing When I’m Sad.

Expect to hear some familiar tunes, and to laugh a lot despite the subject matter. And don’t worry if the idea of musical devices and research sounds daunting.

“If you don’t love music, don’t feel you can’t come,” Miller stresses, and then points to some of her Toronto experiments: “We’ve had everyone from people with classical degrees to those who say ‘Yeah, I’m tone-deaf’ come out.”

These Are the Songs That I Sing When I’m Sad runs from Wednesday to Saturday (June 7 to 10) at the Fishbowl on Granville Island, as part of Boca del Lupo’s Micro Performance Series.