On Sept. 7, NYU Abu Dhabi freshmen filed into Abu Dhabi Theatre for President Andrew Hamilton’s welcome address to the NYUAD Class of 2020 and the seventh RealAD show. The RealAD show has become a tradition at NYUAD; however, this was the first time that the show was performed after the passing away of Elizabeth “Liz” Swados, the creator of the show.

Swados died of esophageal cancer on Jan. 5. According to her wife, Roz Lichter, Swados died of complications arising after a surgery that took place in April 2015.

Every summer, a group of NYUAD students, theater majors or otherwise, come together in New York City to prepare a show highlighting the struggles and triumphs that students might experience at NYUAD or in the UAE. These issues range from figuring out course registration on Albert — the NYU portal for courses and grades — to navigating cultural perspectives on various matters such as safe sex, alcohol and consent. The concept of the show arises from Swados’s own work, which was dedicated to the idea of hope, and how people — children specifically — navigate their place and space in the world.

Some students return to the show after taking classes that align with the show’s requirements or after gaining more experience at NYUAD.

“I was glad to have the benefit of moving through the process with a retrospective point of view. I found that it was easier to write work that would be able to support the show's vision, having taken songwriting classes for my music minor,” said senior Eve Hamel-Smith.

Hamel-Smith performed in the show for the first time in her sophomore year, and came back in her senior year because of the experiences the show affords to its performers as well as its message.

“RealAD is always a pleasure to take part in. The message is one of love, joy and support to students who are going through the same problems you did. It is such a fulfilling experience doing work that you know has a clear positive impact,” said Hamel-Smith.

In certain ways, the RealAD show this year was also a tribute to Swados’s memory and commitment to the show. According to senior Garreth Chan, who was not part of the whole production but joined as an instrumentalist toward the end of practice, the cast members and showrunners wore a thumb pick because Swados used to wear one.

“Throughout the debriefing sessions, her philosophy of radical empathy came up again and again, and reminded the cast of the energy she had intended in creating the show,” said Chan. “At the end of the day, the show is just one representation of the compassionate fire that Liz wanted to see spread in the world.”

Hamel-Smith also talked about Swados’s message of radical empathy, highlighting that the team tried to live through Swados’s idea with more fervor than before. Hamel-Smith met her during her previous experience of preparing for the RealAD show, and recalled Swados’s impact on the cast and crew.

“She was an amazing woman, and through RealAD, all our lives have been affected by her generosity and passion,” commented Hamel-Smith. “Her spirit invigorates a room and continues to sing through all the music in the show.”

One of the significant changes to the content of the show this year was the addition of the song We are not Strangers; this song replaced the NYU classic Learn to Love and Live.

Hamel-Smith commented that the university has undergone changes in the past 13 years, and as a result of that, there is a need to modify the message expressed in the show.

“Our reach has become even more global, and our perspective needs to expand past the implication of tolerance in the words, Learn to love and live,” said Hamel-Smith.

We are not Strangers is a call for affinity and understanding, and its message is inspired by Swados’s production, The Runaways.

“The New York cast wrote this song as a message of solidarity and recognition: recognizing the contribution of Liz Swados, the inauguration of a new university president and the period of transition we are undergoing as a community,” said Hamel-Smith. “By singing We are not Strangers across campuses, we join under an anthem of recognizing our common humanity and being allied within the complexities of that truth. We are more alike than we are unalike.”

“The message throughout is drawn from Liz's beliefs for how arts education, the arts, and the whole world should be like moving forward,” commented Chan in regard to the new song.

Later on the night of Sept. 7, the show was performed at the Saadiyat campus for upperclassmen who could not make it to the theater because of logistical reasons.

“We were thrilled that the RealAD cast was able to put on a second show for upperclassmen back on campus after the first show was finished,” said Dara Orland, the choreographer. “The messages we send throughout the show are helpful for students — and even non-students — of any year.”

Regarding the cast members and showrunners, Orland said that she is proud of the commitment they put into the show, especially because most of them are not students with majors in the arts.

This year, the show was a joint collaboration between NYUAD Campus Life, the NYUAD Theater Program, the Health and Wellness Center and the Wellness Exchange, which is NYU’s 24/7 student hotline for medical and mental health emergencies and consultancy.