Ride the Wave

directed by Teresa Cruz
written by Mattie Barber-Bockelman

scenic design: Teresa Cruz
lighting design: Brandi Alexander
sound design: Johann Solo
cast: Mattie Barber-Bockelman, Aylin Eker, Riana Moore
producer: the VORTEX, Austin, TX
January 2023

A playful performance telling the story of 3 bros searching for an epic surf on the last day of summer.
In this piece, set in a loosely imagined 2060s rich with vibes, grooves, and laughter, a group of young women riff on the surfer bro trope to examine how friendship, the pursuit of freedom, and growing up will be impacted by climate catastrophe. Ride the Wave invites the public to collectively imagine
how a young person can dream of a future that is no longer promised.

"What's out there?"

〰️

"What's out there?" 〰️

3 boys

  • Trevor.

  • Sketch.

  • Matt.

  • Trev.

  • Matty.

  • Sketch-boy.

  • Skizzle.

  • Trizzle

  • Mizzle.

  • The one that's scared of the future.

  • The one that's letting go of the past.

  • The one that sees past the horizon.

fighting for friendship

on the last day of summer

"The wave is the future."

〰️

"The wave is the future." 〰️

“Ultimately, the play is about this not knowing what to do, being part of the cycles of nature, and the beauty we can experience anyway if we cling to friendship and commit to facing the future. Ending with a jubilant lip-sync to Dane Terry’s “Rough Weather,” “Ride the Wave” is a fun, resonant journey that invites creativity and imagination as we build a collective future.”

This piece was born of friendship. It began as a bit between friends one night in 2017 that we put on the back burner. It kept bubbling over, bringing us joy and bringing us together. As we riffed on these boys - Trevor, Sketch, and Matt - we would build and rebuild their world all the while coming back to their connection, conflicts, and jokes. The surfer boy bit is freeing for us. It gives us license to go big and broad. It's dumb but deep. It's connected to nature, freedom, and fun. And it's a reason to get up in the morning: to catch a wave or to see your friends.

As friends in a creative process, we center laughter, deep curiosity, and honest inquiries into our relationships. The VORTEX has propelled us, first in 2020 as we experimented with this play as a livestream and now as a fully embodied theatrical event. Today, we meet you as a group of young artists. We're standing on this beach, looking out, and wondering what's coming next. What will the future hold? One thing we know is that we do not respond alone, but together - with friends and strangers alike. -Teresa & Mattie, January 2023


a short play made for the livestream
May 27, 2020
produced by: The VORTEX & CultureHub NYC

A workshop production developed across distance, Ride the Wave links three friends battling their boyhood, nostalgia, and the maddening loss of being together. In 2020, Ride the Wave dove into an emerging form, created using CultureHub’s browser-based media router for collaborative performance, LiveLab.