you don’t have to do anything.
“One of the best performed shows in New York right now … exquisitely directed by Ryan Dobrin” - Helen Shaw, review for The New Yorker
“Director Ryan Dobrin conjures the dread, awkwardness, and thrill that comes with a particular kind of sexual experimentation mediated through the internet” - Jackson McHenry, review for Vulture
“This Great New Play Reveals the Dark Side of Growing Up Gay … beautifully written, staged, and acted” - Tim Teeman, feature for The Daily Beast
“Dobrin’s final image is haunting in its simplicity and gravity, echoing like taut strings plucked out of place.” - Amelia Merrill, review for Theater Mania
“Ryan Dobrin's direction never misses a nuance, and his cast is equally on-point” - David Barbour, review for Lighting & Sound
This play takes the unique experience of being a queer teen in the early 2000’s, pre-social media but post-chat rooms, to explore what it means to come into your sexuality when your first sexual experience is a violation. Bouncing between virtual connection, physical infringement, and casual public interaction, the play explores the relationship between Teddy and Clark, two teens still unsure of their sexuality but drawn to each other, and what happens when trust is broken, truth is muddled, and time, curiosity, and distance allows for tainted exploration. Complicated, funny, and terrifying, the play asks the audience to question who they follow and catapults them towards uncertainty.
by Ryan Drake
Director: Ryan Dobrin
Lead Producers: Will Arbery, Leigh Honigman, Joey Nasta
Associate Producer: McKenna Harrington
Producing Consultant: Olivia Facini
Production Stage Manager: Caren Celine Morris
Scenic Design: Cat Raynor
Lighting Design: Molly Tiede, Bentley Heydt
Music and Sound Design: Carsen Joenk
Costume Design: Christopher Vergara
Video Design: Zack Lobel
Intimacy & Fight Director: Alex Might
Associate Director: Isabelle Chirls
Assistant Stage Manager: Eva Rubin
Associate Sound Design: Emma Lea Hasselbach
Production Manager: Shannon Molly Flynn
Technical Director: Eric Nightengale
Head Lighting: Jack Bebinger
House Management: Isabelle Loughlin
Graphic Design: June Buck
Ensemble: Andrea Abello, Will Dagger, Miles Elliot, Yaron Lotan
Understudies: Nicholas Salem, Jasmine Sharma, Kayla Zanakis
Workshop Production collaborators: Raja Benz, Tim Creavin, Chloe Morrell, Tolu Ojo, Ara Tandon, Barbara Samuels
World Premiere Production: HERE Arts Center, February 2024
Workshop Production: IRT Theater, October 2022
Workshop: Mercury Store, April 2022
Photos Courtesy of Maria Baranova
