Winni Playhouse welcomes return of youth productions with two plays on same set

MEREDITH — It’s an inexplicable trick mastered by the best playwrights, writing plays that are somehow able to speak to moments in history yet to come. Such is the case for the two plays that the Winnipesaukee Playhouse Education Department is opening this week: “Alexander and The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day,” and “[title of show].”

“[title of show],” with a cast of teenagers, is a play about a group of people who are writing a play about themselves, as they write and perform the play.

“It’s very meta,” said Timothy L’Ecuyer, director of education for Winnipesaukee Playhouse. The play, humorous and lighthearted, is aware of itself as it is being written and performed. At least, that’s how it was written in the mid-2000s, prior to its 2008 Broadway debut.

The play is about a couple of friends who write a musical for themselves and two of their friends. It’s about  following one’s passion, said L’Ecuyer, losing that passion, then finding it anew. That plot line is all too familiar for those with theater in their hearts, as they had their passion put on ice for months due to the pandemic.

The education department staged one production in the fall of 2021, and did an entirely online project earlier that year, but these two shows — which will utilize the same basic set as they will run concurrently — are the first return-to-normal for the youth program since the pandemic was declared.

“[title of show]” was the show the actors got, but it wasn’t what they bargained for. The first plan was to do a larger musical, but only four answered the call for auditions. L’Ecuyer then went looking for shows they could produce with that size cast, and they knew that “[title of show]” was right as soon as they started reading it.

It’s about four adults who have been through the Broadway wringer, and nearly lost their way because of it. The four cast members are themselves only preparing to make the leap into adulthood, yet they were able to connect with the play, and their characters.

Drea Campo, who plays “Heidi,” is planning to move to New York City to pursue theater. That’s what her character did, and she didn’t have an easy go of it. Campo said the story gives her a sense of perspective.

“Sometimes if you go into the world and do your thing, you might fail and lose yourself,” Campo said. Through the play, her character learns that she can redefine success for herself. “It doesn’t have to be New York, Broadway, all the big stuff. Just doing the show with her three friends was good enough.”

For Miles Sargent, who plays “Jeff,” the script’s frank description of an artist’s inner critics struck a chord. He hears those same voices, which would stop his creative process if he allowed it.

“Make the art that you have inside yourself, because that’s what this world needs,” he said.

Raf Vazquez, “Hunter,” loves theater and performing, but he isn’t sure where to steer that passion. It might be something he does as an amateur for the rest of his life, and he thinks that might be the ideal outcome.

“Every actor thinks that the best thing that could happen to them is to go to Broadway,” he said. “I love doing community theater around the area, that might be enough for me.”

The cast might not have first-hand experience of what it’s like to grind through professional auditions without a sense of whether or not their efforts will be rewarded. However, said L’Ecuyer, young actors are up to the task of imagining what that must be like. He said he has to fill in some gaps for them, particularly when the script references specific names or places, but they don’t need much help when it comes to the fundamental theme.

“Teenagers have no problem understanding following your passion, being frustrated when you can’t,” L’Ecuyer said.

The subject matter is even less of a leap in “Alexander...,” a well-known story about a boy who’s having a day when everything, it seems, is stacked against him.

For L’Ecuyer and choreographer Becky Gregoire, the challenge in directing a cast of 8- to 12-year-olds is distilling and harnessing their authentic reactions.

Gregoire said choreographing a musical with such a young cast is “exciting, fun, lots of energy” and “chaotic.”

“It’s very interesting because we wanted to get a feel for the kids being silly,” Gregoire said, yet that silliness needs to be controlled and directed.

“Alexander...,” based on a book published in 1972 and adapted for stage by its author, Judith Viorst, has a message anyone who endured the COVID pandemic could find relatable.

“‘Alexander’ is a silly, off-the-wall thing. I loved it as a child and I love it as an adult, it’s about resilience,” L’Ecuyer said. “Yeah, today was a bad day, but there’s tomorrow... frustrating things happened to you, but you will be OK.”

L’Ecuyer said seeing the young performers come back this year only served to underscore his appreciation for the power of theater. While the pandemic was difficult for just about everyone, it had a particular kind of difficulty — and cost — for children.

“I always talk about theater as the ultimate empathy-builder,” said L’Ecuyer. If a student is 10 now, they were 8 when the pandemic pushed the whole world back into their homes, with interaction limited to online for several months. Academic test scores show that learning in core areas suffered; interpersonal and socio-emotional learning is “in the same boat,” said L’Ecuyer.

Not only can young actors engage with theater, they should, he said, and not just because they have fun while doing it. The benefits will be realized by both them and the people they are around for the rest of their lives.

“It’s something I believe to the soles of my feet,” L’Ecuyer said. “It fosters their empathy, intellect, curiosity, it goes way beyond recreation.”

Visit winnipesaukeeplayhouse.org for more information.