YOU ARE SEEN


Written by Bella Anaya Hathorne; Directed by Emma McGlashen

Makers' Space (13 Grattan St #408, Brooklyn, NY 11206)

September 25-October 19, 2025


Photo Credit: Lauren Redman

First let’s address the 800-lb gorilla in the room, or in this case, the 150-lb bathtub. There’s no smooth way to move a bathtub, with water, repeatedly. It’s heavy. It’s awkward. There’s a reason most bathtubs aren’t mobile.

But while the performers had a hard time as appliance movers, they didn’t have a hard time moving me. The cast includes Emma McDonough (LACI), Meghan McNeive (KENZO), Malaika Tinashe (NIAMH), Emily K Hernandez (RILEY), Sara Rosenthal (SOFIA), Olivia Francis (AMBER) each bringing their significant talents to the stage. The ensemble is tight and plays well off of one another as a group of college sophomores in a support group. Meeting weekly over the school year, the young people slowly grow closer and closer each allowing themselves to show their more vulnerable sides with one exception. Laci, who runs the group, is keen to bring the group together eventually moving it to her own apartment but never revealing anything about herself. As time progresses, the tone of the support group grows more manipulative, more destructive, more dangerous. Each of the actors is given their moment producing truly intimate portrayals of these characters in a moment of crisis. What I found truly amazing in hindsight was that Laci was being portrayed by one of the understudies, Emma McDonough, who had been a swing for several characters, was taking her turn on the stage that evening in a truly pivotal role.

Emma McGlashen, director, has been given a truly daunting task. Not only must they coax out these raw performances from each actor, but the sheer number of scenes, very film-like in the script's construction, and many of which take extreme creativity to accomplish on stage. Indie theatre does not have the luxury of throwing money at its problems. We’re sitting in a room with borrowed lights and mismatched folding chairs for two hours while this story unfolds. The director is tasked with keeping us engaged, keeping the show moving as we jump locations, making subtle changes and hoping we can ignore the changes that cannot be made. Set on a traverse stage, I took pleasure in watching how other members of the audience reacted to revelations made during the play – a look of surprise, of joy or of heartbreak. McGlashen more than meets the challenges in their path.

Ultimately, what elevates the work of the director and actors is a great story. (I am purposely hesitant to elaborate on the storyline so as not to ruin it for future audiences.) Hathorne created very rich characters with distinct voices – and while that may get dismissed as simply part of the playwright’s job, the complexity and unique qualities are too often dismissed with thin stereotypes by even great writers. Long before a play takes the stage, it is the playwright who must play all of the roles, and it is evident that Hathorne immersed herself in each person she brought to the page. The design of the storytelling in this case probably does lend itself more to film than theatre where large numbers of quick scene changes aren’t an issue. But no writer should be constrained about what is currently possible to achieve. Their creativity will inspire other artists to think outside the (black) box.

Murmuration Theatre made me nostalgic for a time in my early theatre life when anything was possible. There is such a love of theatre evident in their work. In writing about the Moliere in the Park gala, I mentioned that most of the theatre happening in NYC “runs on heart”, and this is exactly what I meant. There is an insatiable hunger, a desire to create that I hope these young artists never lose.

Click HERE for tickets.

Review by Nicole Jesson.

Published by Theatre Beyond Broadway on October 18, 2025. All rights reserved.

Previous
Previous

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Next
Next

Truman vs. Israel