The People of Pompeii

Fires have come before. More will come again. And still, people stay, for love of place, for their children, for the idea of community. Bernardo Cubría’s dark and incisive new comedy, set in the aftermath of the 2025 fires in Los Angeles, does not romanticize that choice, but interrogates it, exposing the privilege embedded in even being able to choose. A dinner party meant to celebrate survival quickly turns into a sharp, funny, and uncomfortable reckoning with how we perform community when everything beneath it feels unstable. Fast, biting, and wickedly observant, Cubría’s quick dialogue reveals a deeper urgency: a hunger for connection, home, and belonging that is not fragile or performative. In a time when many of us feel unmoored, The People of Pompeii asks what “home” really means—and whether we are willing to do the work it takes to build it together, before the next fire comes.