The Performance of Care: Mobile Unit Alums David Ryan Smith and Natalie Woolams-Torres Discuss Community-Based Theater

Natalie Woolams-Torres in the 2018 production of Mobile Unit's MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. Photo credit: Richard Termine.

By Ciaran Short

Whether sitting on a stoop, going to a cookout, or watching a bilingual, musically infused take on Shakespeare, summertime in New York City is all about community gathering. The Public Theater’s Mobile Unit exemplifies the multidimensional function of public spaces in New York, as any patch of sidewalk can be transformed into a stage. Kicking off the summer in its 15th consecutive year, Mobile Unit is in the midst of a free tour spanning all five boroughs, featuring director Rebecca Martínez and composer Julián Mesri’s family-friendly rendition of Shakespeare’s classic romantic comedy, MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.

To further contextualize a tradition that spans not only the past 15 years in its current iteration, but back to the 1950s with Joe Papp’s original Mobile Theater, I spoke with Mobile Unit alums David Ryan Smith and Natalie Woolams-Torres, who performed together in the 2018 Mobile Unit tour of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM. The deep bond David and Natalie developed during their tour demonstrates the core values that define Mobile Unit: openness, connection, and community. In celebration of Mobile Unit’s 15th anniversary, David and Natalie provided their firsthand accounts of Mobile Unit performances, offering insight into the direct impact and continued legacy of Mobile Unit as a unifying force in the theater community, and New York as a whole.

David Ryan Smith in the 2018 production of Mobile Unit's MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. Photo credit: Richard Termine.

Ciaran Short: In conventional theater settings, there's a clear divide between audience and actor, with a great deal of etiquette informing how people act. With Mobile Unit, there may not be that clear distinction. How does the environment and the energy of the crowd affect the performance?

Natalie Woolams-Torres: We're actually looking at, talking to, and having conversations with people, as opposed to lifting up the curtain. There's no fourth wall. Much like traditional Shakespeare, the audience is a character in the show. When you have audiences that don't know theater etiquette, it is the best thing in the world. That's where the fun is, the excitement, and the riffing. Sometimes Shakespeare is still difficult to understand, but with Mobile Unit we strip down those divides.

David Ryan Smith: When a well-behaved theater audience comes in, they’re often approaching everything kind of brain first, thinking they need to make sense of everything. They're not allowing themselves to just experience the performance viscerally. In correctional facilities and community centers, people are accepting the performance for what it is, letting it land how it's landing: if it sounds funny, it is funny; if a word conjures up a thing, it conjures up that thing. There's no “I need to look this up.” In Shakespeare's time, most people couldn’t read. He also invented thousands of words, so there are words in his plays that people had no idea what they meant. They just felt something. The community isn’t full of well-behaved audience members. They are allowing the performance to wash over them, and they're receiving it. The institution does a lot to make theater accessible, but it's also something about the audiences and what they bring to the experience.

Hiram Delgado, Cornelius McMoyler, and Robert Marcelo Jiménez in rehearsal for the 2025 Mobile Unit production of MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. Photo credit: HanJie Chow.

Through their accounts of working with Mobile Unit, David Ryan Smith and Natalie Woolam-Torres both reminisce about the fulfilling work of the productions they toured and wholeheartedly acknowledge the dissonance they experience when attempting to provide moments of levity and self-reflection while performing in environments like correctional facilities and shelters. For example, Woolam-Torres remembered one woman who saw every Mobile Unit performance at the Taconic Correctional Facility, a testament to her enjoyment of the plays, while simultaneously pointing to her continued incarceration. On another occasion, Smith was recognized as King Pericles at The Public Theater by a man who had seen numerous Mobile Unit tours while at different correctional facilities. The man needed to use a restroom and happened upon The Public, which he remembered as a potential safe space due to his previous interactions with Mobile Unit.

CS: What is the role of Shakespeare’s plays, or theater in general, in today’s society, given that theater is often seen as an inaccessible or intimidating art form?

DRS: I find a lot of comfort in Shakespeare and in these classic plays. These classic stories make us feel like we've been here before, like tyrants have been around before. Our people have been oppressed before. Grief has happened before. Loss has happened before. Love has happened before. There is so much in Shakespeare that gives me kind of a breath like, “OK, we've dealt with these things. Humans have dealt with this before, and we've still pushed on and moved forward.” So I find comfort in that.

NWT: The most profitable thing in this world is fear, right? Making people feel isolated and separating them into different groups. But the beauty of theater is that you are gathered with strangers and have the opportunity to see we’re all the same. I’ve seen what the community has done for me and other people, and it is the most powerful thing we have. I think the biggest thing that brings us together is storytelling.

Mayelah Barrera, Keren Lugo, and Sara Ornelas in rehearsal for the 2025 Mobile Unit production of MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. Photo credit: HanJie Chow.

Despite being directly confronted with limitations of art in the face of profound systemic hardship, both actors persisted and used the tools at their disposal to positively affect others. The act of care and commitment to vulnerability through performance is immense; such a choice is at the very heart of what makes Mobile Unit so special. Traditional theaters and performance venues are designed to streamline productions within existing infrastructure, and most frequently offer one-directional performances where the performers provide an experience that the audience, for the most part, receives and strives to comprehend. By creating a transitory play and encouraging participation, reaction, and co-creation, Mobile Unit actively chooses the path of most resistance for the sake of widespread access. With the further polarization of politics, society is largely focused on advancing ideological agendas rather than fostering meaningful dialogue and taking care of one another. Mobile Unit shrinks the vast metropolis of New York City and resituates actors, Shakespearean characters, and the theater itself as community members and neighbors, trying its best to entertain and care for its audience.

Ciaran Short is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, and activist born and raised in NYC. His work explores New York culture and tackles issues of race and masculinity. His multifaceted creative practice stems from an interest in holistic storytelling using a multimedia approach. His writing has been featured in publications such as The Independent, Newsday, and Honeysuckle Magazine. He holds a masters degree in Media Studies from the New School and can typically be found hanging out in New York City’s Chinatown.