(Anon)ymous roams through remembrance, grief, and connection

“Remember me,” pleads the chorus of “(Anon)ymous,” starkly illuminated in a time-stopping red as they approach the audience. And remember them you will in the Lewis Center for the Arts’ production of “(Anon)ymous” by Naomi Iizuka, which ran at the Berlind Theater the past two weekends, Nov. 1–2 and 7–9. In this fantastical and moving piece, award-winning actress and director Bi Jean Ngo, “(Anon)ymous” navigates themes of family, home, and memory.

Iizuka’s play, inspired by Homer’s “Odyssey,” follows Anon, played by Aabid Ismail ’ 25, as he encounters various characters and lands in his search for a home. Unsteady at times in his memory and space, he follows the memory of his mother from place to place alongside dangerous traffickers, cannibalistic butchers, kind friends, and other refugees.

Originally written in 2006, this piece feels all too pertinent in a time of climate and war-induced migrations as well as growing isolationist and xenophobic fervor. Accordingly, while the show offers depictions of isolation, exotification, and exploitation, it also presents community, strangers finding home in one another, and collective joy. While at times fragmented in its space and heart, it comes together in the life and warmth of its cast and design.

The show begins with a cosmic display of community as the chorus of refugees walks through the audience, connecting with one another as they recall the homes they miss and share. Their costumes’ neutral colors and earthen silhouettes enhance their unity, but also their unstable sense of home and belonging. In an interview with The Daily Princetonian, costume designer Ariel Wang described her inspiration as “the contrast between ocean and land,” and noted the “fragmented quality” of refugees’ lives in their cycle of traveling across oceans and temporarily settling on land throughout the show.

The sense of comfort and togetherness, crafted by the orange warmth of lights, transforms into pointed individual targets amassing over Anon on a newly dark and lonely stage. This is a poignant tone shift from Elena Milliken ’26, the lighting designer and only student designer in the production.

In the visual scorching heat, Anon begins his role as narrator, telling the audience the story of his home. The story switches between episodic interactions between Anon and those he encounters on his journey and moments of community narrative frozen in an oceanic space. A recurring theme is the storm, embodied by a unified chaotic dance swirling around Anon and live foley effects from members of the chorus, that split apart Anon and his mother, who is portrayed by Ash Jackson ’26.

Nathan Leigh, the sound designer and composer, told the ‘Prince’ in an interview that this scene was unusual for him, as composition happened around and after the actors. This inverted the typical process of composing before and sound designing after the actors and imbued the production with a more interactive quality. This collaboration was visible in the piece in the way the actors immersed themselves, creating space and tone with sound.

This episodic structure creates a disjointed and intense journey, as the audience knows as little as Anon about the paths and history of each new setting. Yet each realm feels tangible, even as it departs from reality. Most of his foes meet him with smiling faces, like the fun-focused Calista, played by Kate Stewart ’25, the boisterous and charismatic butcher, Mr. Zyclo, played by Destine Harrison-Williams ’26, and the crude and intense driver, Strygal, played by Kristen Tan ’26. Each comes to reveal a dark twist that brings their true natures to light.

There are also times when Anon finds connection. Moments with his sweet traveling companion Belen , depicted by Chloe Ng ’27, or dinner with the warm family of Ali, also played by Harrison-Williams, Ritu, and Nasreen, played by Tima Alshuaibi ’28 and Kristen Tan ’26 respectively, who invite him into a space of humor and intimacy, serve as reminders of home for him.

This great journey, over distance and through barriers to his memory and home, culminates in a mythical battle against the sweatshop owner, Mr. Mackus, played by Avi Chesler ’25, who is forcing Anon’s mother into marriage. It is only here, with a larger-than-life pair of scissors, that Anon cuts through what has been said to create his own story, one that begins with reconnecting with his mother.

In “Anon(ymous)” emotional realities of finding oneself and others take the stage. This was also the case in the rehearsal and design process. Leigh explained that “an emotionally honest … single take” of a lullaby he created was used in rehearsal. He realized that what for him was “unpolished” was “really emotionally raw” for Ngo, and “something that made it beautiful and emotionally poignant.”

In an interview with the ‘Prince,’ Ngo explained that her process involved actors finding their characters through their viewpoints and physicalities. She pointed to tech as a “magical time … to see these actors discover even more in the moment, beyond what we built in the rehearsal room because they’re feeling the support of a sound… or the shape of a costume… or a light filling them with a certain feeling.”