Performances run 7-22 July.
Boulder-based square product theatre presents the World Premiere workshop of “Things We Will Miss,” a new work developed by producing artistic director Emily K. Harrison in collaboration with an intergenerational team of artists from across the country. The piece marks the first original, full-length work developed by the company since 2019’s “Everything was Stolen .”
“Things We Will Miss,” a collage-style devised work, grew out of material workshopped by Harrison with students at Sewanee: The University of the South in the spring of 2022. The company has continued to develop material for the play via regular Zoom meetings with a mix of student and professional theatre-makers scattered across the United States. “I’ve loved seeing how this piece has evolved in the year since we began devising, and getting everyone together in Boulder is going to send it in some incredible new directions I can’t wait to explore,” said Nathaniel Kline, a Madison, Wis.-based artist who has worked on the project since its inception. “Everyone has to put a little bit of themselves into the piece, and that kind of sharing is transformative,” Klein noted.
“The climate crisis is very much a story of our time, one that many of us are trying to make sense of, and so we’re exploring theatrical tools that share the experience, that tell the story, in new and exciting ways,” said Harrison. “The narrative structure for the piece is very loose – it’s got an ephemeral feel. It’s more a collection of vignettes, songs, and images that explore our relationship to the climate crisis, to the fear and grief we feel,” she said. “We’re largely focusing on the things we love – the people, and places, and experiences we will miss if we lose them. To that end, we’re also focused on the power we have, collectively – especially younger generations – to radically shift the trajectory we’re on,” Harrison noted.
Perhaps fittingly, the production will feature performers in their early-mid 20s, and includes faces familiar to Front Range audiences, as well as young artists who are traveling to Colorado to work on the piece. “This is my first time in Boulder and I already love it here,” said Irmak Sagir, a rising senior at Hamilton College, a small, liberal arts college located in Clinton, N.Y. “After months of seeing the people working on this production on a tiny screen over Zoom, it is wonderful to finally meet everyone in person. I'm excited to collaborate with so many talented people to create work about something that really matters - the beauty of what we have and don't want to lose,” Sagir noted. Harrison agrees. “We’re having a lot of fun in rehearsal experimenting with different ways to tell these stories, to find and sit with the horror and the beauty of this moment in our collective history,” she said.
Audiences will be invited to provide feedback after performances, as the team continues to develop and hone the work.
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