A new original play

Dearest,

Written by Noah Dehli. Devised and performed by Andrew Alvarez-Cooper, Noah Dehli, and Ada Green.

Welcome to Dearest, (comma included)! This show is about obligation, pigs, a lesbian, a bisexual, and an astronomically wealthy family (that is also astronomically dysfunctional). As the play churns, we learn about Anne and Peter’s tenuous engagement, unpack their relationship to privilege and suffering, and delight in some 1850s Victorian flavor.

Statement

Artistic Statement

Dearest audience member,

Ada, Andrew, and Noah here. Thank you so much for coming to this world premiere! You will be the first people to ever see this play, and we couldn’t be happier to have you with us for the next hour and a half (give or take). We dreamed up the initial concept for Dearest, over a year ago and couldn’t be more thrilled to reunite in Santa Barbara to perform together, each one year older and no less busy than last summer.

This production began long before any script graced a Google Doc. Last August, the three of us spent four hours on a couch together improvising and devising a prototypical, primordial soup version of this play; and over the course of that evening, we lucked into some pretty special themes and scenes. Anne and Peter’s connection is rich and grotesque, and the complex disaster of their engagement explores class and sexuality with beautiful and visceral relatability. The world of Victorian era England melded with our modern sensibilities. Something magical appeared.

We could never have predicted that our little couch-born experiment would surface again, but boy are we glad to be here! Please join us on this dark, wonderful, hog-tied, nuns-up-the-wazoo production of Dearest,!

Anyone care for a game of cricket?!

The Gang

CONTENT WARNING: Moments of non-consensual intimacy between characters, voyeurism.

Artists

Meet the artists

We don't bite most of the time!

Anne

Ada Green

Ada (she/her) is super duper psyched to be performing in Dearest, with two of her favorite people. She is currently studying theatre and creative writing at Northwestern University where she most recently played Betty in Vinegar Tom. Before college, Ada was a company member at Lights Up! Theatre Company for six years; favorite credits include Orpheus in Hadestown, Matilda in Matilda, and Miranda in The Tempest. In May of 2025, she directed, co-wrote, and performed in The Sarah House Journals, a collaboration between Laguna Blanca School and Sarah House Santa Barbara to raise money for the hospice home. Gratitude to her parents, silly little brother Cooper, and Noah and Andrew.

Peter

Andrew Alvarez-Cooper

Andrew Alvarez-Cooper (he/him) is an actor, improviser, director, and writer AND still finds time to play D&D weekly. He is a rising senior at Dos Pueblos High School, and has been in such shows as Anything Goes (Moonface Martin), Our Town (George Gibbs), Mamma Mia (Sam) and Curtains (Frank Cioffi). He is also a proud member of local community theatre company Lights Up! and has been in shows such as Anything Goes (Moonface Martin), Little Shop of Horrors (Seymour), Hadestown (Hades), and The Addams Family (Gomez). He wants to thank Noah and Ada for making sure he wasn’t a complete fiasco, as well as his family and mentors who continue to support him every step of the way.

THE REST

Noah Dehli

Noah Dehli (he/him) is an actor, director, and writer. He is a junior majoring in Theater Studies at Stanford University; credits include Stanford Music Dept.’s Into the Woods (Baker), mainstage Witch (Understudy, Fight Captain), Stanford Light Opera Company’s Hunchback (Phoebus), Stanford Theater Lab’s student-written play Come Again (Director, Set Designer, Intimacy Coordinator), capstone production Port Pourri (Set Designer), Asian American Theater Project’s Cabaret (Bobby, Fight Choreographer), and mainstage Romeo and Juliet (Mercutio). He also wrote this play. Additionally, he wants to thank Ada and Andrew for their immense love and support AND for putting up with Noah's bullshit.

Stage Manager

Theodore Wilson

Theodore Wilson (he/him) is excited to stage manage Dearest,. He is a first-year engineering student at Brown University with a particular passion for experiential design. Theodore’s acting experience with Lights Up! Theatre Company includes, but is not limited to, The Addams Family (Gomez), Hadestown (Hades), Little Shop of Horrors (Seymour), and Footloose (Willard). He’d like to thank his ever-supportive family and mentors for their support. As of writing this, he has yet to read Dearest, but he hopes you’ll enjoy it as much as he will.