How to Live on Earth, David Geffen School of Drama, 2023

How to Live on Earth

MAY 4–6, 2023

DAVID GEFFEN SCHOOL OF DRAMA AT YALE

James Bundy, Elizabeth Parker Ware Dean

Florie Seery, Associate Dean

Chantal Rodriguez, Associate Dean

Carla L. Jackson, Assistant Dean

PRESENTS

How to Live on Earth

By MJ Kaufman

Directed by Annelise Lawson

Creative Team

Production Dramaturg

Karoline Vielemeyer

Stage Manager

Adam Taylor Foster

Cast in alphabetical order

Don

Edoardo Benzoni

Robert Sufiyan Farmer

Carol

Chloe Howard

Russ Lucas Iverson

Bill

Max Monnig

Rick Grayson Richmond

Eleanor

Rebeca Robles

Aggie

Anna Roman

Omar

Kamal Sehrawy

Setting: Earth

How to Live on Earth is performed without an intermission.

Content Guidance: This play makes allusions to suicidal ideation and references alcohol addiction.

This production is supported by The Benjamin Mordecai III Production Fund.

Production:

Associate Safety Advisor

Aholibama Castañeda González

Associate Production Manager

Cian Jaspar Freeman

Assistant Stage Manager

Chloe Xiaonan Liu

Run Crew

Miguel Angel Lopez

Bryn Scharenberg

Administration

Associate Managing Director

Matthew Sonnenfeld

Assistant Managing Director

Natalie King

Management Assistant

Adrian Hernandez

House Manager

Spencer Knoll

Production Photographer

Daniel Rader

Special Thanks

Paola Bonacina, Ben and Tami Monnig, Kino Alvarez

Yale University acknowledges that Indigenous peoples and nations, including Mohegan, Mashantucket Pequot, Eastern Pequot, Schaghticoke, Golden Hill Paugussett, Niantic, and the Quinnipiac and other Algonquian speaking peoples, have stewarded through generations the lands and waterways of what is now the state of Connecticut. We honor and respect the enduring and continuing relationship that exists between these peoples and nations and this land.

The Studio Productions are designed to be learning experiences that complement classroom work, providing a medium for students at David Geffen School of Drama at Yale to combine their individual talents and energies toward the staging of collaboratively created works. Your attendance meaningfully completes this process.

THE BENJAMIN MORDECAI III PRODUCTION

FUND, established by a graduate of the School, honors the memory of the Tony Award-winning producer who served as Managing Director of Yale Repertory Theatre, 1982–1993, and as Associate Dean and Chair of the Theater Management Program from 1993 until his death in 2005.

All patrons must wear masks at all times while inside the theater except when eating or drinking. Our staff, backstage crew, and artists will also be masked at all times.

David Geffen School of Drama productions are supported by the work of more than 200 faculty and staff members throughout the year.

The taking of photographs or the use of recording devices of any kind in the theater without the written permission of the management is prohibited.

Front image: James Webb Space Telescope, NASA public archives, adjusted by Karoline Vielemeyer.

How to on Earth

“Mars Mission would require you to be away from your family and friends forever. What impact would this have on you?” This was a poignant question on the Mars One application form from 2013. After a competitive selection process that would involve training in harsh physical conditions and enduring the imagecrafting scrutiny of a reality TV format, 24 finalists were promised a one-way ticket to the Red Planet. The entire world would hold its collective breath as people watched a live stream of the first humans to set foot on Mars and establish a permanent settlement. Anyone 18 or older could apply, and a whopping 200,000 expressed interest.

In the world of MJ Kaufman’s play, Aggie, Bill, Eleanor, and Omar are among those who compete for a spot in the final 100 and actively grapple with the aching decision to separate from loved ones forever. Conversely, their parents, siblings, and lovers navigate feelings of anticipated grief. During interviews for the real-life Mars One mission, family members and partners teared up imagining this heartwrenching goodbye. While they knew they could communicate with departed loved ones through digital technology, they could never share a meal, never hear their unmediated voice, never embrace them again.

Through the lens of its four applicants, the play explores why candidates were determined to go

on a mission with no return. Was it to go down in history as pioneers who saved humanity from our dying planet? Arguably controversial from an environmental perspective, this lofty claim also masks these characters’ more personal reasons that include the urge to escape gaping holes of loneliness and disorientation in a complicated life on Earth.

The process unsettles Kaufman’s aspiring astronauts because someone who toys with the idea of leaving the planet forever takes a hard look at what it means to live here in the first place. While the real-life Mars One mission never came to fruition, the prospect alone changed people’s lives tremendously. Applicants reported they began taking risks to form much deeper connections with other humans and the planet at large. As the characters face gargantuan decisions, the play puts the question of how any of us live on Earth under a powerful microscope. In this world, the intangible vastness of space protrudes into human consciousness to explore an inconsolable yearning for wholeness. While that existential desire may never be fulfilled, this encounter fosters profound connections of love with others and oneself. How to Live on Earth becomes a heartfelt exploration of our tiny but magical shared existence on this beautiful Blue Planet.

—Karoline Vielemeyer, Production Dramaturg