Wonderlust Productions has a unique theater model. They make theater for the community, with the community, by the community, and that community varies with every show. The spend a couple of years interviewing people and creating an original piece of theater that strives to convey their experience, whether it's
caregivers, or the
incarcerated, or people who work in
our state government. The community this time is, well, all of us, and the topic is as simple and as complex as our values. This is an extremely timely and relevant piece of theater, at a time that feels more divided than ever, when people's values seem so vastly different from each other. But can we find common ground among our values? How do we convey our values to others? How to we put those values in action building a neighborhood, a community, a country? These are the ideas that
A Star Full of Skies grapples with, in a really playful and engaging way. Because this is an "experience," the audience gets to participate in the storytelling (but not in a threatening or burdensome way). Read on to find out how, and
click here to get your tickets to this unique theatrical experience before it closes next weekend.
The first clue that this play is going to be unlike typical plays is when the usher hands you a laminated list of scenes and a sharpie. The second clue is when you walk into the Frey Theater on the campus of St. Kate's and see couches in the front row (I've sat in enough uncomfortable theater seats in my lifetime to take the comfy couch when it's offered). And the final clue is when the cast walks out on stage, introduces themselves by their real names, and explains how this thing is going to work. The first act of the play includes 18 scenes, and we get to decide the order, reminding me of those "choose your own adventure" books I read as a child. But how does the audience choose the scenes? We try out different kinds of democracy, which is a great way to put the idea of the play into practice in constructing it, and creates a fun, playful, participatory atmosphere.
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| snem DeSellier and Levi Weinhagen (photo by Dan Norman) |
The story that this talented eight-person cast tells, as they don characters, is a very loose retelling of Euripides' play
The Bacchae. But rather than gods and kings, we have the story of an incumbent governor (Samuel Osborne-Huerta) being challenged by a populist politician (Kashif Shakti). The supporters of both are very vocal, and very sure the other side is wrong. We learn about them through the short randomly ordered scenes in Act I, which also include the story of a young woman named Cynthia (Michelle de Joya) who moves from her family farm to the big city, and participates in a protest. Act II is a more linear story, although still playing in the realm of mythology, in which Cynthia brings her new friend Eli (snem DeSellier) home to meet her family.
The play is written by Alan Berks and directed by Leah Cooper (the co-Artistic Directors), and it really does a great job of combining this ancient Greek play with the things happening in our current world, and the actual words of real people. (In a way, it's reassuring to know that humans have had these kinds of disagreements and divides for centuries, millennia, and yet we survive.) This cast is really terrific (also including Matt Guidry, Gabriel Penaloza-Hernadez, Kashif Shakti, Levi Weinhagen, and Andrea Wollenberg), and they all seem entirely nonplussed with having to perform a scene at the drop of a hat, out of order, with no lead up to it. They all play multiple characters, and also are at times sort of themselves, interacting with the audience and guiding the show along. There is uncertainty in the way the show plays out, but we know we're in good hands and will get where we need to go.
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| Kashif Shakti and Samuel Osborne-Huerta (photo by Dan Norman) |
The performance space at the Frey Theater is dominated by a giant tree that looks like it's made out of paper mache, or tissue paper, with minimal set pieces in the open space in front of it. The Act I scenes are represented by numbered cardboard boxes, each one removed as the scene completes (announced by "done"). The cast is dressed in neutral-toned shirts and pants, with a few pieces added (including colorful blazers for the candidates) to indicate the different characters. And kudos to the tech crew for being on top of it as the scenes play out in different order every night, and making it all look like it was planned that way. (Set design by Timothy Foss, costume design by Sonya Berlovitz, lighting design by Heidi Eckwall, sound design by Skyler Nowinski, technical director Sammy Meverden.)
Like Girl Friday Productions (whose
Wife of a Salesman closes this weekend), Wonderlust Productions only comes around every couple of years. They spend that time researching and compiling a piece of theater that is more than just a play. It's almost like docu-theater, not really a direct documentary piece, but taking inspiration from real life and real people to tell a real story in a theatrical way.
A Star Full of Skies: The Values Play Experience is definitely unlike any other theater you will experience this year. And you can experience it sitting on a comfy couch - just like watching TV, but better!
