WRITE UPS #1 - Running Toward Something Together: A Review of "are you listening?" at The Makers’ Space
by Mawahib Ismail and Ethan Manuel Homen
Hello, beautiful people! We are so thrilled to be introducing the first review in a new series called WRITE UPS, in which our team shouts out and reviews shows, films, writing, and other work by our NYC community of early-career artists.
If you have a piece that you would like us to platform through this series, please email us at nycwriteclub@gmail.com!
We can say there has only been one piece of art that truly reminds us of the innocence and heartbreak of Tracey Chapman’s “Fast Car.” That piece was are you listening? by Noma Mirny, a new queer Western directed by Ciera Miller and produced by Isabelle Chirls.
When Lou, a self-assured butch mechanic (Dayaun Dewitt) stumbles upon Bea, a boyish teenager just discovering herself (Michela Murray) who’s running away from home, they embark on a road trip together. The play tracks two paths as they both run away from and toward something.
The scenic design (Sean Lillis) immerses the audience in the endlessness of an empty Texan highway. Each piece feels intentionally stuck together– found rather than made, much like the characters living within it, emphasizing the play’s themes of impermanence, disconnection from home, found family, and queer resilience.
Miller’s use of shadows throughout is one of the most compelling elements of the production, with lighting design by Tori Oatway and costume design by Nile Helgerud. When Bertram Talcomy (Andrei Dolezal), a sheriff archetype who toes the line between real-life and mythic demon, we first see the foreboding shadow of his hat and shoulders splayed across the white brick walls of The Makers’ Space. Our stomachs sink, and we think to ourselves, “Dear god, please leave the cat be” (did we mention there’s a cat?). These shadows add weight to the emotional landscape and reflect what the characters cannot yet say out loud, making the silence just as powerful as the dialogue. The chase pulses with impending doom and crackling sadness, which live beneath the ever-present hope.
One of the most striking moments in the play comes near the end, in a scene between Bea and Lou where there is nowhere left to run. In that stillness, they can no longer escape their emotions, their fears, or the people they would rather not face. Murray delivers Bea’s heart-wrenching revelation of childhood trauma with honesty and restraint. Dewitt meets them fully in that moment, offering Lou’s presence, care, and support that allows the scene to breathe and land with real impact.
This revelation is only made possible by a script that takes its time. Mirny insists that these characters care for and need one another, while Miller’s direction deftly takes these characters through roadside fast food stops, sleeping on highway shoulders, and taking in strays they stumble upon along the way. This quiet sweetness is the real strength of the show. When things take a turn for the worse, we find ourselves wishing for just another pit stop to spend more time with these two– to see them be happy, to see them live freely.
By the time the lights go down, we leave with hope, unafraid of being lost; as the show elucidates ever so clearly, being lost does not mean you can never return. The team tells an assuredly honest queer story set in rural Texas, a place often drenched in heteronormativity, and reminds us at each turn that we are in control of our own narratives and destinies. As queer people, we survive through the families we find and build, and none of us are the sum of the people who have hurt us.
are you listening? is a play for anyone trying to find their way back. Back to a version of themselves, back to a feeling, back to a place they once called home. It is also for anyone brave enough to run toward something new, especially if that means doing it alongside someone else.
This play reminds us that movement is not failure, that longing can be a compass, and that sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is listen – to yourself, the universe, and your friends – and keep going.
are you listening? runs through this Sunday, February 8, at The Makers’ Space in Brooklyn, NY.