Welcome to Almost (nearly) Fucking Finally—the first commedia dell’arte performance at the School since 2019! We’ve got masks, we’ve made a whole lot of lists, and we’ve put them together in ways that will delight, shock, and entertain you. I was supposed to work on the 4YAP back in 2020, when it was still a 3YAP. The sudden arrival sent us all indoors and out of (physical) touch with other human beings for well over a year. It was (still is!) a time of confinement, closure, and stillness. Personally, physically, spiritually, cosmetologically. All of which makes commedia dell’arte stick out like a sore thumb—or any number of other
ALMOST FUCKING FINALLY NEARLY
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of a global pandemic threw a wrench into that plan, as I’m sure you’re aware. And that event
awkward and unruly body parts. There’s a persistent current of anarchism, of boundary-breaking, in these masks (the commedia ones, not the N95s). Something about this form feels so open and unencumbered: free, joyful, spontaneous. Alive. It might seem like a silly thing we’re doing. Singing songs, playing games, putting on a show. After all, the world is, in a lot of places, literally on fire! Add to that the resurgence of far-right autocracies, growing corporate hegemonies in all areas of our lives, the vicious personal violence of the internet, the relentless curtailment of our rights and attacks on our most vulnerable by the government, an ongoing pandemic, the decay (and deliberate sabotage) of our democratic processes, and a general lack of human contact (intimate comfort, if you know what I mean) and it all starts to feel absurd. Why go to drama school at all?! The obvious answer is to get into one of those Marvel movies. We all need some fantasy right now, and then you’d be able to live through the coming Water Wars in relative comfort and privilege! But sometimes that vision just seems hollow. Sure, you can trade the canned tuna you stockpiled for the loyalty of your subjects—but we’re all equal in the face of eternity, right? You have to laugh. But when we laugh…here we are right now: anxious, fearful, tender, yearning humans. A moment of communion. All of us urgently and wonderfully alive.
Besides which, laughter, they say, lengthens life. With any luck, this show will get you a good couple of years, Water Wars be damned. You’re welcome, America. —Nicholas Orvis, Production Dramaturg
STUDIO SERIES PRODUCTIONS | 2021–22 SEASON