Bella Rowland-Reid ‘22

“I think I’m having a good time.”

Gabe Snyder ‘25 is draped wistfully over the pipe balcony of the Cannon theater, his white t-shirt absorbing the glare of the spotlight over him. Beneath him, four actors — dressed identically in white shirts and blue jeans and spread across the floor of the theater — stretch their hands, heads, and torsos towards him as he rattles off a list of statements. We don’t know if he’s really having a good time, or if he’s just saying that. Neither do his co-stars, for that matter — in fact, after over 120 hours of rehearsal, it’s likely the first time they’re ever hearing it.

In a minute, the actors will assemble together, grasping hands and moving in sync with one another as they bend and move beneath, around, and between their bodies. It’s hard to tell which parts are improvised — virtually all of the dialogue and eighty percent of the movement is, director Katy Snair ‘22 explains — as opposed to the type of synchronization that only comes with a vulnerability developed over months of working together.

It’s a Pleasure to Meet You is the first piece of devised work from Snair. She began developing the project in April 2021 — later finding influence in a Philosophy Through Film class she was taking with faculty member Scott Shushan — around the idea of connection. Platonic, romantic, professional, familial: it’s all up to the interpretation of the actors during any given performance. The piece is presented as a personal and artistic reintroduction to the world after almost two years of varied degrees of social and physical isolation, drawing partially on Snair’s feelings after returning to campus in Fall 2021 after studying abroad, and remotely, since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I knew I wanted to direct since I toured [SLC],” Snair says. She’s sitting sideways on her chair, turned around towards me, her laptop splayed open and glowing with half a page of show notes. Snair and her actors mill about before the final dress rehearsal begins — lying on the floor, playing hand-clapping games, and discussing the multitude of other costuming, acting, directing, and technical responsibilities scheduled for the rest of the semester. While Snair has directed before — and will do so again for Downstage’s I am a Camera, which runs April 22-23rd — her foray into devised work “just sort of happened.”

*Ella Aiges ‘22, ensemble member of It’s a Pleasure to Meet You. Photo by Bella Rowland-Reid ‘22*

“It’s been a lot of exploration,” says Michèle Carter Cram ‘23. While the cast has been assembled since November, traditional rehearsals only began at the end of January — the first semester consisted primarily of theater games and similar activities. “It’s unlike any theater experience I’ve done before.”

The performances rest on the ability of the actors to connect with one another and the audience. Each monologue is different — at one point, the five actors stand in an inverted v shape away from the audience and each begins reciting a different line from a character or person they have thought up. Over time, it moves from some sort of theatrical exquisite corpse into a singular narrative as each actor gradually fades from the spotlight and leaves the stage. From one rehearsal to the next, monologues can change wildly, and the cast frequently talks over one another in excitement, acting more like a gaggle of college friends bantering over dinner than a group of actors, many of whom had not worked together prior to this production.

This method of artistic exposure can, at times, make for a comical performance — at one point, an actor is rehearsing choreography to a k-pop song while discussing their friend’s penchant for disregarding her mental health. At other times, it becomes deeply emotional: watching the actors stand hand-in-hand at the end of the performance, left with more questions than they have answers, I unexpectedly start crying. Perhaps the beauty of the work is not only how different each performance can land, but how effortlessly the cast — grounded by Snair’s understanding of movement as a tool for artistic expression — moves between topics of varying emotional heft with the same astute observations and affecting resonance.

The show ends with the actors slumped over one another, bound together in a hug or a heap, it’s hard to say. After thirty minutes of near-constant movement and dialogue, a swelling vulnerability crescendos into silence — the distance between actor, character, and viewer continuing to blur as the lights dim. The ending feeling equal parts joyous, melancholy, and sadistic, and all the more brilliant for it.

What determines a connection? How does one forge a friendship amidst our current conditions? Where do you reintroduce yourself to the world? It’s a Pleasure to Meet You knows it cannot answer any of these questions. But it will make you feel less alone in pondering them.

It’s a Pleasure to Meet You will be showing Thursday, March 3rd and Friday, March 4th at 7PM and Saturday, March 5th at 3PM in the Cannon Theater. Tickets can be reserved via Eventbrite.

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