Dramaturg’s Note | ARE YOU SOMEONE TO SOMEBODY?

By Clara Livingston, Dramaturg

The prize is something you’ll never forget. Perhaps it’s something you haven’t forgotten. Something that you might be remembering at this very moment. And if you did forget it, perhaps it’s not a prize at all. 

At its core, this is a piece is about memory. It is about childhood and family and how we become who we are.

Early in our rehearsal process, Lindsay asked each cast member to create an individual devised piece. Many of those early creations revolved around memories of family and growing up. While they don’t appear directly in the show you see today, these early pieces were essential in guiding us throughout the process and shaping our final piece. 

This is a show about parents and children. What does it mean to have a shared past with another person? How do two different people remember the same moment? The experiences that shape us are never only about us. Maybe this is a story about one child and their parents remembering the same moment – choosing to relive it or forcing themselves to repress it, always trying to get at what’s underneath the facade. Reckoning with our past is the only way we can move forward. It is the only way to know who we are. 

ARE YOU SOMEONE TO SOMEBODY? might be a merging of different stories and different lives – intersecting characters and relationships that create a spider web of connections, across continents, generations, and languages. Or maybe it is all part of the same story; different ways of remembering the same moment, understanding the past, and coming to terms with the present. 

That’s part of the beauty of devising – everything is inherently intersecting and tied together because it came out of the same generative space and collective ensemble. Every time I watch the piece I notice something new, a different moment stands out, a new connection is made. As you watch the piece, you’ll find your own connections, maybe in the text, the movement, or something else entirely. Those connections may have been intentional or entirely coincidental and what they mean is up to you – there’s no right answer or one way to interpret this show. As you watch the piece, I hope you find moments that move you, that spark an idea or stir a feeling, a moment of connection in this strange, wacky, wonderful world we have created.