In March 2022, Ensemble Studio Theatre presented what you are now by Sam Chanse in association with The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and The Civilians at EST’s Curt Dempster Theatre, the first live production in EST’s theatre since the shutdown in March 2020. Now, this production will be available for streaming from September 8 through September 25, 2022, on EST’s website. Access to the streaming version will be available for free, but registration is required at estnyc.org.  

Praised as a “scientific testament to the power of storytelling to change minds” by the New York Times and  “a multifaceted, devastatingly effective play” (The New Yorker), what you are now follows Pia, a passionate young researcher investigating cutting-edge new ideas about how to heal the mind from traumatic memories. When a figure from the past unexpectedly shows up, urging Pia’s mother to testify about her experiences during the violence of 1970s Cambodia, Pia must navigate through a latticework of interconnected memories: her relationship, her brother Darany and, centrally, her mother Chantrea—making discoveries that will radically alter everyone’s lives in the present. This world premiere by Sam Chanse is a thrillingly insightful new play that asks the audience to move through the shifting dance between the past and present, and to consider how with new understanding we might change “who you were then” to “what you are now.”

Chanse was awarded a New Play Commission grant by the EST/Sloan Project to begin writing what you are now in 2015 and presented a reading of the play as part of the 2017 First Light Festival. In 2018, The Civilians were awarded an EST/Sloan Project seed grant in order to develop the play with Chanse. Both companies continued to support the development of this play, including a public reading hosted at New Dramatists as part of the 2020 First Light Festival and Chanse’s participation in The Civilians’ R&D Group lab for new work.

You have until September 25, 2022 to catch this production on EST’s website. Click here or visit estnyc.org for more details.

Extended Play is a project of The Civilians. To learn more about The Civilians and to access exclusive discounts to shows, visit us and join our email list at TheCivilians.org.