'Any Minute Now' by Alix Sobler '17, Directed by Professor Peter Jay Fernandez at HERE Arts Center

This past January, Any Minute Now, a play by Playwriting alum Alix Sobler '17, premiered at HERE Arts Center in Soho. This production also marked the directorial debut of Peter Jay Fernandez, Associate Professor of Professional Practice and Co-Concentration Head of Acting.

Any Minute Now, which featured actors Jay O. Sanders, Jess Gabor, and Alison Cimmet, tells the story of the Campbell Family. After a forty-two-year disappearance the wife and daughter of this family return, seemingly untouched by the passage of time. While the reappearance of mother and daughter appears miraculous, the event causes the whole family to examine past mistakes and face an uncertain future in a world where "An innocent man sits in jail...The laws of physics are unraveling," and government secrets seem to threaten ordinary American life.  

Sandy McDonald in NewYorkNoteBook described Sobler’s framing device as "time stasis over time travel." "Though the play’s premise may be a bit far-fetched, director Peter Jay Fernandez keeps the ensemble grounded in recognizable reactions," says McDonald. "Sobler’s dramatic instinct is sound, her motivation timely. She’s optimally served here by a top-tier cast."

"Jay O. Sanders, Jess Gabor, and Alison Cimmet strike the perfect balance between people who are supposed to know each other better than anyone and also don’t know each other at all," says Liz Davenport, the creator behind the instagram account thebroadwaybarker. "It’s funny, it’s tense, it’s loaded."

Actor Jeff Hiller commented that "The show was REALLY good" and that the cast gave "a hell of a performance," and author Chris Hayes called the show "[the] fastest 80 minutes I can remember in a theatre in a while…you'll be thinking about it for a long time. It rips."

Fernandez is a working actor whose Broadway credits include The Piano Lesson, All the Way, Jelly’s Last Jam, Henry IV, and more. In addition to his career as a performer, he has taught acting in institutions like Sarah Lawrence College, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, and The New School. He is currently the Co-Concentration Head of Acting in the MFA Theatre Program at Columbia School for the Arts. 

Alix Sobler is an award-winning writer and performer from NYC whose plays and solo shows have been produced throughout North America and England at theaters such as The Coronet Theatre (London, UK), The Alliance Theatre (Atlanta, GA), The Segal Centre (Montreal, QC), and more. Sobler is an Associate Artist with Fault Line Theatre and holds degrees in theatre and playwriting from Brown University and Columbia University.