Home Again
There’s only so much to say that hasn’t already been said about reuniting with your favorite people after a long stretch of time steeped in uncertainty and fear. The crush of emotions—a tussle of joy, excitement, relief, gratefulness, lingering uncertainty and fear, and grief—ebbs and flows, and is soon replaced with a strange hush. Will this last? But like everything else you continue on, settling to live with the new guards kept at a careful distance but still there, for now. [And maybe they’re accompanied by a bit of social anxiety, but that’s neither here nor there.]
You choose, too, to hold on to the joy, a specific and new brand of joy with an impression you know you can always trace.
Reuniting with The Impostors Theatre Co. felt like manifesting a piece of our mission. The unprecedented challenge of a global pandemic set us reeling with the rest of the world, and it made us question our next steps. How could we continue to shape these stories when we couldn’t even be together in the same room? And our work seemed so small in comparison to all of this—did it even matter?
The answer is, of course, yes. Yes, absolutely, it matters a great deal. Living forcibly without the communal experience of live theatre in all its avenues, from sold out Broadway venues to children’s holiday pageants to bands on street corners, illuminated just how vital that experience is. Humanity craves catharsis, especially when it is collectively trying to process heartache with fewer outlets to do so. Discovering ways to entice it gently, through stories told with great care and imagination, became a lifeline for many.
And so we as a company found our own ways to keep telling our stories. With two original radio theatre productions, one original virtual anthology series, and a slew of Zoom calls to read drafts, compare ideas, and form plans of action, we maintained our stride.
But—the reunion. Our first in-person meeting after more than a year was as filled with tears as it was laughter (and booze). That crush of emotion was overwhelming. We each felt that we had been welcomed back home At the Hearthstone.
Following that experience, we had the wonderful opportunity to gather for a table reading/acoustic rendering of ensemble member Dominick Alesia’s original musical, Miranda: A War-Torn Fable. The story’s themes, woven with a symphonic combination of whimsy and despair, made more than one set of eyes smart in the room that day. Miranda pays homage to many artists and their work, but none more so than the late Stephen Sondheim, a great influencer and personal hero of Dom’s. Let that be another one of the many reasons to look forward to our eventual staging of this amazing piece of art.
And finally, we celebrated our official return to the stage with The House of Baba Yaga, written by Development Director Emma Smart. No show could have better paved the way for audiences to get back in the house (ha) of a theater. The heady doses of excitement that accompany any show came threefold for theatergoers as they watched an ancient witch crawl out of an oven and proceed to torment a group of teenagers with riddles, obstacles, costume (and personality) changes, and twisted versions of game show staples. It turns out the campy kind of horror can provide the perfect backdrop for tender themes surrounding coming of age. Audiences were hungry for such an escape, and we were all too happy to help them find it.
Continuing in the vein of homes, our next in-person production will explore the world of Old Hertham, an afterlife imagined in Rachel Borgo’s Hertha Nova, inspired by the novel New Town by Harry Blamires. No witches will populate this town, but a few pseudo cult leaders just might. We can’t wait to laugh with audience members once again February 11-26, 2022.
We spent a long time holding our breath. But the door is open again, and we’re happy to welcome you home.
