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In 2020, it’s infinitely more difficult to decide what kind of show to put on. Is this the time for something heavy that speaks to this moment? Is this the time for something light and happy to take people’s minds off of the disaster we are all living through?

Hopefully, After the Blast does a little bit of both. I hope the audience can relate to the feeling of being a “fucking mole” trapped indoors, but I also hope we can all smile at Arthur the robot asking Anna, “What is a bra?”. At the very least, the rehearsal process for After the Blast made me feel more connected to people than I have through this whole pandemic. This show was created across 4 continents, over conflicting time zones, on zoom, in the middle of a global pandemic, but I hope that you all can feel the warmth that we created in the rehearsal room each day.

After the Blast also speaks to something larger about the environment that I think we are all feeling right now more than ever: the actions of our government or big corporations can leave the individual powerless in times of crisis. Throughout this process, FTC and I have been working together on providing reusable shopping bags for the production staff, offering free recycling lessons, and creating fundraisers for a local clean air initiative. But ultimately, that’s all a drop in the bucket with the havoc that industrial fishing and large scale greenhouse gas emissions reek on the environment. We need to hold those in power accountable for what they are doing to preserve our ecology longterm. I don’t want any of us to be fucking moles any time soon.

Thank you infinitely for watching,