Insects are often considered merely gross pests, yet they are some of the very beings that keep us alive. If they go extinct, we go with them. Somewhere explores this premise: what would happen if there were no more insects? Scientifically speaking, 80% of earth’s plants are angiosperms that require pollination from insects to survive. Moreover, 50-90% of the human diet comes from angiosperms. The remaining percentage is heavily dependent on other animals, who in turn themselves depend on angiosperms. Thus, global food production rests on the shoulders of insects, and the effects of their extinction would quickly trickle down the food chain.  

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Additionally, the characters discover the Armillaria ostoyae, a fungus commonly found in Oregon. It is the world’s largest organism and is estimated to be 8,650 years old, making it among the oldest living organisms. This fungus causes Armillaria root disease, which grows along tree roots through networks of hyphae and mycelium. This disease increases what the play has established as the chaos threatening our characters’ food supplies; it also presents a cyclical irony: one of the last remaining organisms was one of the first. 

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This is where we find ourselves in Somewhere: the characters living off of rations, digging up fungus, and following some of the last insects across the country. We specifically witness characters tracking the migration of monarch butterflies. Monarch butterflies migrate from Canada and the U.S. to Mexico in autumn, arriving in Mexico during Día de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead). Thus monarchs are an important element in Mexican folklore, and they have been an important part of the region’s history, tracing back to the beginnings of Mesoamerican culture. Monarchs are found in artifacts from the indigenous cultures known as Teotihuacan, Toltec, Aztec, and Maya, and remain prominent in current-day Mexico. These creatures are regarded as a spiritual symbol that represents the souls of ancestors returning to visit or comfort loved ones. Monarchs are also the symbol of the DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program, representing the dignity and resilience of immigrants and their right to move freely. The journey of Alexander and Cassandra in Somewhere parallels this sentiment. In addition, in the world of Somewhere and beyond it, monarchs are becoming increasingly endangered. This reality is one reminder–among so many others–that we must question humans’ impact on the environment because the post-apocalyptic world of this play is perhaps coming closer than many of us would like to admit.