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When the yoga teacher softly tells us to “be here now,” I’m the person sitting uncomfortably on her mat in the back of the room thinking, “well, where else would I be?” This mirrored reality is how Be Here Now opens and I instantly had a connection with Bari, the main character who seems just as disinterested and disconnected in meditation as I am.
But when Bari starts having headaches and smelling things that aren’t there, there’s a certain group in the audience whose breathing halts: a group that knows exactly what Bari is going to have to endure during the play, because they’ve endured it in their lives. As the daughter of a brain cancer survivor, I was in that group- and the rest of the play had me on the edge of my seat, laughing and crying and remembering.
At the end of the 90-minute run, this play wasn’t about enduring and persevering, nor was it about surrender. And it wasn’t about any diagnoses or meditation or ‘being here now,’ at least not in the ways you’d think. It was about something far greater, far more insightful or poignant than I’d seen on a Cincinnati stage in quite some time.
Be Here Now is a reflection on life that relates to anyone that has ever considered their own mortality, or the mortality of people they care about. It’s a celebration of life, an inquisition of personal purpose, a confrontation of our most profound fears, and a reminder that beauty can be found anywhere- even in a pile of garbage.
Deborah Zoe Laufer’s world premiere run of Be Here Now will continue at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park’s Shelterhouse Theatre through March 11. It is already set to be staged at the Theatre Lab in Boca Raton, Florida next, and it’s certain to gain further acclaim as it continues. I highly recommend getting your tickets now to this amazing play, so you’ll be able to say “I was there at the beginning” when this show winds up on Theatre Communications Group’s top 10 list. Congratulations again to playwright Deborah Zoe Laufer, director Portia Krieger, and the wonderful cast; you’ve made something truly inspiring.
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