“Everything has been figured out, except how to live.” Sartre
Gasda’s new play Ardor dissects the lives of nine contemporary friends with century-old philosophical contemplations. A single familiar farmhouse living room is the setting for love triangles, lust, identity crisis, overwhelming loss… no one is excused by the awkwardness of life and death.
Debuting This Fall in NYC
Written and Directed by Matthew Gasda (Interview)
Set by Jacqueline Brockel (Interview)
Lights by Joseph Magnus (Interview)
Costumes by Ashley Owens (Interview)
Stage Management by Allison Boenig (Interview)
Produced by Di Di Chan
The Characters
Alana, a dancer, 24 by Anamaria Mesa
“The fact that colors in the flower evolved in order to attract insects to pollinate them is interesting: it means that insects can see the color. Which means, that if you think about it, nature needs beauty to survive.”
Andre, a painter, Chloe’s Uncle, 55 by Greg Petroff
“There are two kinds of people: those who can endure physical pain but not spiritual pain, and those who can endure spiritual pain but go crazy over the thought of physical pain.”
Arthur, a mystery, 22 by Xavier Clark
“Sometimes I’m convinced that I’m either the Buddha or the devil. I must be one or the other.”
“You know, I’ve been told I can talk snails into orgasm”
Charlie, a playwright, 24 by Vincent Van Santvoord
“You chase the sweetness of spring all the way to the end of summer and by that time it’s too late…”
Chloe, an actor, 24 by Melissa Nelson
“It’s like, I always end up sending long text messages to people trying to explain and re-explain and re-re-explain what I tried to say in person; words are a pathology, I can’t seem to ever say them right.”
Fred, a writer, 24 by Ladi Akinwande
“When I was little, maybe four or five years old, a part of me used to think that I was waiting for permission from someone to die; I wan’t sure why exactly— it just seemed better to be dead; like in the same way it’s better to have an umbrella when it’s raining than not to have one. I didn’t even realize that it was unusual until I was older. But wanting to die makes other people uncomfortable, so I stopped. No one noticed, nothing changed on the outside. It was an external thing, a little click, like a machine changing gears.”
Leo, an actor, Chloe’s younger brother, 19 by Tad D’Agostino
“But what if shame is the emotion and not the thing controlling the emotion? How do you know shame isn’t all there is?”
Sophia, Andre’s art model, 22 by Makaela Shealy
“I don’t like giving words away. They’re mine.”
Victoria, a theatre director, 24 by Kim Sweet
“I’m not sure which side is going to win out: The side that is driven and independent, or the side that’s flat-out heartbroken and needy.”
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Ardor The Play 