ARTIST. SCHOLAR. EDUCATOR
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WE'RE GONNA BE OKAY
by Basil Kreimendahl
Hamline University
The characters in We’re Gonna Be Okay are ridiculous and real at the same time; they have real fears, expend real efforts to figure out how to be good citizens, neighbors, spouses, parents, and kids, but the pressure makes it all a little bit bonkers. We meet them in the height of 1962’s Cuban Missile Crisis. Playwright Basil Kreimendahl crafts a world in a pressure cooker of societal forces. Though the characters live in our campy take on 1962, the conditions--volatile worldwide politics, the restrictive limitations of gender norms along with toxic heteronormativity--are undoubtedly pertinent to our current moment. Through We’re Gonna Be Okay we might consider how, in a political landscape thick with fear, we reconcile who we know ourselves to be, who we might be if we were free to live outside of fear and social constraints, and what it means for all of us to be safe. I’m grateful for the opportunity to explore this bold and plucky new work (2017), by and for folks who have been excluded from the stories we tell, share, and celebrate. Here's to weirdness, and its blinding brilliance!
Directed by Laura Dougherty
Set Design: Sarah Brandner
Light Design: Coby Aloi
Costume Design: Samantha Kuhn-Staenart
Projection and Media Design: Jackson Cobb
Sound Design: Laura Dougherty & Jackson Cobb
Photo credit: Jackson Cobb, Sophie Warrick