I Hear So Extremely Loud: CalArtian’s Production Offers New Look at Trauma

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Still from Ava Hase's (Theater BFA 23) I Hear So Extremely Loud | Image: Courtesy of the artist

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Still from Ava Hase's (Theater BFA 23) I Hear So Extremely Loud | Image: Courtesy of the artist

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Poster for Ava Hase's (Theater BFA 23) I Hear So Extremely Loud | Image: Courtesy of the artist

I Hear So Extremely Loud, a gripping one-person show written and performed by Ava Hase (Theater BFA 23), will premiere at The Hudson Guild Theatre in Los Angeles as part of the 2021 Hollywood Fringe Festival, running from Aug. 12-29. 

Described by BroadwayWorld as “a brave look at the trauma of this generation,” the play follows the true stories of people impacted by school shootings in America. Hase worked directly with all subjects portrayed in the show, in which she shared the verbatim transcription of videos, interviews, and personal anecdotes of the subjects’ experiences. The work offers audiences a “unique and potent perspective” to our current era, in which fear and lockdown drills have become commonplace. 

Hase worked alongside an all-CalArtian team—the play credits Oscar Falcon (Theater BFA 23) as director, Hayden Bearden (Theater MFA 22) as sound designer, and Robert Hill-Guarino (Theater BFA 22) as lighting designer. 

“I am very excited to be a part of I Hear So Extremely Loud because of the importance of the conversation that it brings up surrounding gun violence,” Falcon is quoted on the play’s official website. “I hope to get everyone who sees this piece to, at the very least, talk about it and self-reflect on what their part in the issue is.”

A New York native, Hase is a BFA candidate in the CalArts School of Theater whose directorial debut, a short film titled “KITTY KITTY,” recently had its virtual premiere on the streaming platform NoBudge. I Hear So Extremely Loud marks Hase’s first self-devised and written theatrical work.

Performances of I Hear So Extremely Loud at The Hudson Guild will take place on Aug. 14 and Aug. 21-22. The performances will also feature an after-show Q&A session with survivors of the Parkland and Saugus school shootings.