By Eleanor Burgess
Directed by Matt Gehring
Kumble Theater, LIU Brooklyn
2026
Set Designer: Patti Panyakaew
Lighting Designer: Joshua Groth
Sound Designer: Tyler Berg
Costume Designer: Hannah Bird
Stage Manager: Julie Gottfried
Assistant Stage Manager: Emily Herral
Assistant Director: Mary Meyer
Act I takes us to a basement in Brookline, MA in 2001, where four teenagers gather to talk about life, expectations, and dreams. The space is cluttered with toys, stuffed animals, a kitchen playset, furnitures bought in the 70s that are no longer in use, a hideous couch, a ping pong table, stacks of VHS tapes from early-2000s blockbusters and just lots of junks. The width of the stage is defined by string lights and wooden plank walls, creating a space that feels both expansive and enclosed.
Ten years later, in Act II, we return to the same basement where we see how each of them has grown into young adults, now carrying a different set of expectations, careers, and ambitions. The space has shifted--it feels more formal, filled with books, a lazy-boy armchair and a stationary bike. Or perhaps it's not the room that has changed, but our perception of it: what once felt vast and full of possibility now seems smaller, shaped by realities of adulthood, just as the people who inhabit it have been shaped over time.
Photo Credits: Patti Panyakaew and Shawn Salley
Design Concept Sketches