Director’s Note

I get chills every time I listen to or read the lyrics to Alanis Morissette’s “You Learn” from her iconic 1995 album Jagged Little Pill: 

You live, you learn
You love, you learn
You cry, you learn
You lose, you learn
You bleed, you learn
You scream, you learn

Wear it out (The way a three-year-old would do)
Melt it down (You're gonna have to eventually anyway)

With every line, she encourages (demands?) that we do everything in this life, even the things that hurt and are hard. Why? Because they all have something to teach us. Maybe especially the hard things. What’s more, she also reminds us we don’t have to be all adult or intellectual or careful about it: just jump in like a three-year-old and melt it all down along the way. Man, that is so freeing.

Those same lyrics are also fantastic instructions for engaging with this show. You’re going to feel a lot of things as you experience this show – I think I speak for the entire cast and team when I say I know we certainly did as we were putting it together for you. The topics covered here are hard and fun and messy and joyful and heartbreaking, but they’re all important to feel. Why? Because they have so much to teach us about ourselves, about each other, about our community.

So don’t resist the feels today: laugh, cry, cringe, yell, do whatever you need to. Like Alanis said: You’re gonna have to eventually anyway. 

Drew Whitley, Director