“And We’re Back”: Returning to the Room Together

Theatre is always, at its core, an act of collective breath.

For two years, that breath was scattered — caught in living rooms, on Zoom screens, in masked rehearsals and outdoor readings, in the strange in-between spaces where artists tried to keep the spark alive while the world felt suspended. For Classics on the Rocks, like so many theatre companies, the pandemic didn’t just pause our work — it reshaped how we thought about community, collaboration, and why we gather in the first place.

Our recent video marking our return to the stage in 2022 captures something simple and profound: we missed each other.

In the reel, members of the Classics on the Rocks family reflect on their favorite moments with the company — the late-night rehearsals that felt more like confessions than run-throughs, the joyful chaos of shared discovery in Shakespeare’s language, the intimate audience connections that make this work feel less like performance and more like conversation. Several artists also speak about what the company meant to them during the pandemic: a creative anchor when everything felt unmoored, a place that reminded them why they fell in love with classical theatre in the first place.

What emerges from their reflections isn’t just nostalgia. It’s a testament to how deeply this ensemble model matters. Classics on the Rocks has never been about polish for polish’s sake; it’s about relationships — between actors, between text and body, between stage and audience. Even when we couldn’t physically be together, that relational core endured.

And then comes the line that makes every theatre kid grin.

As the video closes, the group gathers and says: “And we’re back.”

For anyone who has ever worked in a rehearsal room, those three words carry a particular electricity. They echo the stage manager’s call after a break — the moment when chatter fades, attention sharpens, and the work begins again. It’s both practical and ceremonial, a gentle nudge that says: we’re here, we’re ready, let’s make something together.

In this context, “And we’re back” isn’t just a statement of return. It’s a promise.

A promise to re-enter the shared imaginative space that makes theatre possible.A promise to continue exploring Shakespeare not as museum art, but as living, breathing human story. A promise that after silence, distance, and uncertainty, we are choosing each other — and the work — again.

As Classics on the Rocks steps back onto the stage in 2022, this isn’t just a reopening. It’s a reunion, a reawakening, and a recommitment to the intimate, actor-centered, language-driven theatre that has always defined this company.

The lights are warming up. The room is filling with familiar voices. The breath is coming back together.

And yes — we’re back.