“We stand in the aftermath of a year most of us likely wish to forget.”
~ Pandemic Project
In the past year, checking your phone, getting groceries, even getting out of bed in the morning came with complications. We faced loss of life, loss of community, loss of physical presence with loved ones. Existential crises pervaded every aspect of daily life: economic devastation exacerbated by the pandemic and the ugly head of systemic racism rearing itself with an onslaught of murder of black men and women by police. Despite the joy of getting back to a rehearsal room after a year, putting together Pandemic Project came with a myriad of challenges from working with masks to dealing with a COVID scare among the cast and having to leave the space temporarily to hoping our audience will suspend their disbelief when we say characters aren’t wearing masks or that there are more people in the space than we can safely manage. But creating art during this time is an act of resilience, and our team was dedicated to memorializing this moment in history. The hope as well as the despair.
Together we shared stories, reflected, processed, and worked towards healing. We knew that the only way to tell a story that was fitting for this moment, was to create something entirely new. COVID-19 presents unique circumstances for performing and creating, and as we reflect on the past year, it’s easy to realize that without the pandemic, this piece would never have been produced, nor would this type of theatre have been created. Developing a piece of art which is reflective of our individual experiences allowed for numerous narratives to weave themselves together. They are firsthand experiences, moments we were able to witness during the past year, and accounts of life found in articles online. This piece not only is a moment of exploration and embracing the history we have endured, but it also is a time capsule itself, immortalizing this moment in time.
“It’s just time. We’ll remember what it felt like, and make up for it the rest of our lives.”
~ Pandemic Project