Bears, bears, bears
February - April 2024
Role Advised by
Playwright, Media & Production Design TJ Young
Winner of Artistic Excellence at Meeting of the Minds by Center for Arts and Society
What is the nature of empathy in a time of self involvement? When a paleontologist-turned-au-pair switches bodies with his host family, he must juggle their dysfunctional lives while securing a “Proof of Reliability”—or risk his own future.
Inspired by Goldilocks and the Three Bears, this 60-minute workshop production explored self-involved conventions new and old, combining the fairytale format with video and media projections. Bears, bears, bears comedically examines how constant digital connection impacts our ability to empathize, all while painting a surreal portrait of modern family dynamics through a classic fairytale.
Bears, bears, bears was staged April 27, 2025 at the Melwood Building, 477 Melwood Ave., in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Bears, bears, bears was supported by a Small Undergradate Research Grant at Carnegie Mellon University.
Photos taken by Ari Kloepfer
Media Design
For this workshop, I developed all the play’s video and media using Premiere Pro and After Effects; all projections were produced using Milumin.
“Inchy’s paleontology”
Stop motion animation, Inchy, the next species on Earth, gives a glimpse of what humans may have been like.
Media design was integral to developing the show’s message of self-involvement, particularly as it related to screens. The aesthetic was guided by the verisimilitude of techology; I wanted the things that were physically made to appear almost digitally rendered.
“The Big City”
Projection on Cardboard, the projected again in the final space.
I had never done any media design before this, so it was really interesting to learn while
going; my curiosities to learn not only influenced the video media design, but what the
play explored as well.
Production Design
For this production, I did all of the production design, which was a unique experience; I consider myself a writer first. What this taught me was to always write visually.
In any of my development, I always tried to prioritize play!
Sheryl, the insecure dinosaur: always with the front facing camera on
Airdry clay, acrylic paint
Trembolo, the sleeping dinosaur: he’ll never wake up to that alarm...
Airdry clay, acrylic paint
Megan, the undercover celebrity dinosaur.
Embellished latex mask
Full Cast
Directed by Alon Moradi
Mitchell Matthew Blankley
Genevieve Addie Saltz
Kim Maya Ousachi
Pierre Catcher Sanchez
Lily Emily Yago
Zingo Hazel M. Froling
Denita Eliot Herron
Mother Olivia Rhunke
Megan Becca K. Perry
Michele Kaycee Swierc
Mark Alon Moradi
Makayla Fangran Li
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