Intimate, sometimes witty You Are It is worth getting to know

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      Created by Deb Williams and Sherry J. Yoon, with Carmen Aguirre. Directed by Sherry J. Yoon. A Boca del Lupo production. In the Fishbowl on Wednesday, March 30. Continues until April 2

      I made new friends—kind of—at You Are It, Boca del Lupo’s new show about friendship. I was sitting next to a couple named Heather and Kevin, and, after the performance, the three of us chatted about the factors—including wealth, distance, and marriage—that affect our bonds with others. That sharing was one of my favourite parts of the evening—which is a sweet outcome for a humble show.

      In the performance, Deb Williams shares the tiny stage with Carmen Aguirre. You Are It is part of Boca del Lupo’s Micro Performance Series, and, with 23 audience members in the wee Fishbowl space on opening night, the experience was intimate.

      As they chat and exchange stories, it becomes clear that Williams and Aguirre’s takes on friendship are different. Williams declares that, if you don’t have a bestie, you’re a loser; Aguirre doesn’t have a best friend, but she does have an international network of about 30 intimates that she refers to as sisters. Williams makes friends with people on the bus and invites them home for dinner; Aguirre claims that she would literally kill—spill blood—if a sister asked her to do it.

      Some of the writing is witty. In a section titled “Deb’s Cosmology”, Williams classifies types of friends using planetary terminology. If you make friends with a Super Nova, it’s love at first sight, then the relationship explodes, “leaving nothing but a piece of charcoal in your heart". The Inverted Wormhole, who is all about her allergies and trigger warnings, always has time to tell you about her latest treatment.

      Aguirre’s material is generally darker: some of it deals with parental violence.

      Generally speaking, though, there’s not a lot of heft to the show and not all of its theatrical conventions work. A piece in which the two women construct best friends using a projected image of a cutout doll goes on for too long without contributing much. And it’s a bit odd that, although the declared subject of the evening is friendship, You Are It assumes that women will always have female best friends.

      I had the most fun when You Are It exploited the intimacy of its setting and involved the audience. As Williams and Aguirre raced to see who could make friends with an audience member most quickly, Aguirre asked her target, “Would you ever join the French resistance?" And, in another chunk, we were invited to participate in a poll by putting up our hands. Has a friend ever asked you for a surrogate pregnancy? Have you ever slept with or pursued your friend’s sexual partner?

      You Are It could be leaner and it could go much deeper. As it is, it’s an amiable show that prompted a nice chat afterwards.

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