Once a parent survives the "terrible twos," it's onward and upward to new adventures with a "wild child." I still remember the time when, after watching Peter Pan on television, I decided to leap off my parents' bed to see if I could fly. The resounding thud caused them to come running upstairs to see what had happened.
It's no secret that the world has become more dangerous for children. As technology has grown increasingly powerful, the ability of children to act out in new and disturbing ways has grown exponentially. From kidnappings at nearby parks to the massacre at Columbine High School; from teens experimenting with drugs to sexting with strangers, every parent dreads having to ask a neighbor or police officer "Are the kids all right?"
What makes the situation particularly worrisome for today's parents, priests, and politicians is that children have access to and can navigate new media much faster and with greater skill than "seasoned professionals" from older generations. Sometimes the results are horrifying. At other times, parents can be gobsmacked to discover a beautiful part of their child's life that a sullen teenager has worked very hard to keep hidden from them. In her recent Op-Ed piece in The New York Times entitled "Rediscovering My Daughter Through Instagram," Helene Stapinski describes what it was like to get an unexpected glimpse into her daughter's soul.
I recently had a discussion with an arts fundraiser who told me about his experience trying to mollify an elderly donor who was deeply concerned about the nonprofit's presence on the Internet. Apparently, the donor kept seeing ads for an upcoming show whenever he logged onto a website that specialized in "adult content." For the fundraiser, trying to explain how cookies function on the Internet was an exercise in futility. He took comfort, however, in the fact that he never asked the donor exactly which adult website was carrying the nonprofit's banner ads.
While it's all too easy to peg Millennials as selfish and lazy slackers, one need only watch how masterfully Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been making waves since defeating the incumbent Democratic Caucus chair, Joe Crowley, to represent New York's 14th Congressional District. An extremely intelligent and highly motivated woman, AOC has shown that she can dance rings around her critics on Twitter. She comes to any political fight armed with facts and statistics.
What was once predicted to be a "blue wave" in the 2018 midterm elections turned out to have been a blue tsunami. A great deal of credit goes to the work by politically shrewd students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida who, within six weeks of the horrific school shooting on their campus on February 14, 2018, organized March 24th's massive March For Our Lives protest (which was matched by protests in more than 800 cities) and have continued to flex their media-savvy muscle throughout the year.
With no decisive action coming from Congress, the Parkland students (who became a huge inspiration to people in favor of gun control) used their newfound celebrity to run a successful GOTV campaign throughout the summer. On November 20, at a ceremony in Capetown, South Africa, Archbishop Desmond Tutu presented the 2018 International Children's Peace Prize to David Hogg, Emma González, Jaclyn Corin and Matt Deitsch.
It's shocking to see a small group of teenagers get such stunning results where adults have consistently failed but, since this summer, news reports have steadily indicated that the National Rifle Association is losing money as well as political power. Danny Westneat's recent article in The Seattle Times ("A Test Tube For Anti-gunners’: How Washington State Voters Have The NRA On The Run") is well worth your time.
Ever since the shooting in Parkland, the media has stressed that the MDS students are still teenagers struggling with the standard pressures of exams, identity, and relationships, as well as mourning those whose lives were lost. The fact that they have been able to channel their grief and rage into a powerful movement for change speaks volumes about their future potential.
For the past three years, environmental activists have been monitoring the progress of Juliana v. U.S., a lawsuit filed in 2015 on behalf of 21 plaintiffs (ranging from ages 11 to 22 at the time) who claim that the climate policies of the United States government are systematically robbing them of "a climate system capable of sustaining life." At the 2018 United Nations World Climate Conference in Katowice, Poland (COP24), a 15-year-old activist from Sweden named Greta Thunberg delivered a stern warning to the grownups in attendance:
December may seem like an odd month to focus on how teenagers react to trauma and threats to their environment, but there's no time to act like the present. Two productions currently on Bay area stages profoundly demonstrate how much teenagers' perceptions, reactions, and understanding of the world around them have been altered (and sometimes warped) by cable news and social media.
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In her touching essay entitled Recalling Magical Theater Visits With Mom, Randi Mazzella remembers how her mother's passion for live theatre introduced her to the gift that keeps on giving. One book which I'm looking forward to reading in 2019 is The Spirit of This Place: How Music Illuminates the Human Spirit (The Rice University Campbell Lectures) by Patrick Summers (who conducted the San Francisco Opera's West Coast premiere of Jake Heggie's new opera, It's A Wonderful Life).As part of its rebirth and transfiguration, TheatreFIRST has been aggressively pursuing an educational outreach program to schools in the Bay area. Led by Jon Tracy, its community of artists has been visiting high schools, colleges, and community centers to listen to people talk about what's on their minds and enable those who might not normally think of themselves as artists to get involved in the creative process.
The first production of TheatreFIRST's 2019 season, The People's History of Next, was unveiled in early December at the Live Oak Theatre. Its promotional blurb describes it as:
"...a play that explores ownership of the past, present, and future through one’s relationship to their bloodline. After grief destroys the world, three teenagers find themselves the unwilling guardians of humanity’s detritus. Surrounded by the ghosts of the past, they are forced to become the architects of the future."
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| Leela Kiyawat co-stars as Dee in The People's History of Next (Photo by: Jay Yamada) |
This production was developed with (and includes work from) over 500 students from Oakland Tech, Oakland School for the Arts, Contra Costa School of the Arts, Chabot College, Skyline High School, and Stage Bridge. Through a series of "listening circles, writing workshops, and media foraging," the play's workshops and script were facilitated by artists/educators Awele, Anthony Clarvoe, Cleavon Smith, Lauren Spencer and Jon Tracy. With video design by Ben Euphrat, sound design by Kristoffer Barrera. lighting design by Mark Jensen, and costume design by Nikki Anderson-Joy, three local teenagers who have had little to no professional theatre experience perform a script that mirrors their concerns about life.
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| Unity Tambellini Smith co-stars as Tara in The People's History of Next (Photo by: Jay Yamada) |
After more than a half century of theatregoing, I've learned that some experiences are about process while others are about product. The performers and creative team involved in birthing a new work are intensely focused on the artistic process. Most audiences are interested in judging the final product.
However, there are times when process is definitely more important than product. The three principals in The People's History of Next (Justin Howard, Leela Kiyawat, and Unity Tambellini Smith) are students without the advantage of solid theatrical training. Of the three, the most impressive is Justin Howard, who seems like he has the potential to evolve into a genuine stage animal.
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| Justin Howard co-stars as Anton in The People's History of Next (Photo by: Jay Yamada) |
The production makes extensive use of film and montages featuring actors familiar to many in the Bay area theatre community. Among those whose faces haunt the proceedings are Awele, Joy Carlin, Radhika Rao, LaMont Ridgell, Miranda Seitelman, and Rob Seitelman.
Many years ago, my friend Marvin Feldman (whose death inspired his former roommate, Cleve Jones, to create the AIDS Memorial Quilt) was struggling to gain his footing as an actor in San Francisco. Whenever I saw him perform, it was obvious that his intelligence, intuition, and technique were much stronger than the actors with whom he was working. One night, Marvin asked me for my honest impression of the performance I had attended. I told him that he was trapped in a piece that was basically an exercise in "the agony of youth" and that he deserved much better material.
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| Justin Howard (Anton), Leela Kiyawat (Dee) and Unity Tambellini Smith (Tara) co-star in The People's History of Next (Photo by: Jay Yamada) |
With a running time of 85 minutes, The People's History of Next has the kind of dramatic ambition and youthful urgency that could easily become repetitious if (were it not a learning and teaching project) a director had insisted on substantial cuts. That's why the most important aspect of this production is not the final product, but its ability to involve young people in creating a piece of theatre that reflects their hopes, fears, and values.
Having a sense of ownership in telling a story is a sure way to spark a passion for the arts. I actually think The People's History of Next could be taken further by letting a core group of teens transform it into a suspenseful web series. That way, the work process could be free of deadlines, yet allow the creative team to broaden and deepen their artistic process. In the meantime, it's exciting to witness young teens learning how to walk their artistic walk and talk their artistic talk.
Performances of The People's History of Next continue through December 22 at the Live Oak Theatre in Berkeley (click here for tickets). Here's the trailer:
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A 1787 collection of sermons by Thomas Francklin contains the following quote:"Falsehood will fly, as it were, on the wings of the wind, and carry its tales to every corner of the earth; whilst truth lags behind; her steps, though sure, are slow and solemn, and she has neither vigour nor activity enough to pursue and overtake her enemy…"Some 230 years later, Francklin's statement provides the dramatic foundation for the award-winning musical Dear Evan Hansen, which recently landed at the Curran Theatre and is playing to packed houses. The show's protagonist (Ben Levi Ross) is a self-conscious, awkward, high school senior with few friends and a painful lack of self-confidence. He is being raised by a single mother (Jessica Phillips) who, in addition to her work, is taking classes to become a paralegal.
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| Christiane Noll (Cynthia Murphy) and Jessica Phillips (Heidi Hansen) in a scene from Dear Evan Hansen (Photo by: Matthew Murphy) |
As a result, Evan is often left to his own devices. A bundle of nerves struggling to break out of his shell, he speaks much too fast and ricochets between moments of clarity and dizzying confusion, between extreme intelligence and painful naivete. When a therapist suggests that Evan start each day by writing a self-affirming letter to himself, Evan's story begins to unravel when his letter falls into the hands of fellow student Connor Murphy (Marrick Smith), a depressed and angry jock. Connor is the only student willing to write something on Evan's arm cast. After Connor commits suicide, Evan's letter is found in the deceased teen's pocket.
As in many families with teenagers, Evan's communication with his mother is strained. She's overworked, overwhelmed, and can barely find time to leave food for him, while he is often too wired up to remember to eat. Because his father left their home, moved to California and remarried when his son was very young, Evan has hungered for a father figure to lean on without ever really having experienced what it's like to have a "normal" family life.
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| Ben Levi Ross (Evan) is comforted by Jessica Phillips (Heidi Hansen) in a scene from Dear Evan Hansen (Photo by: Matthew Murphy) |
By a curious turn of events, Evan is introduced to Connor's parents in the principal's office at school, where he learns of Connor's suicide and doesn't know how to tell the grieving parents that he was the author of the letter addressed to Evan Hansen, not their son. The fact that Evan has a crush on Connor's sister, Zoe (Maggie McKenna), complicates the situation.
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| Ben Levi Ross (Evan) meets the Murphy family (Aaron Lazar, Christiane Noll, and Maggie McKenna in a scene from Dear Evan Hansen (Photo by: Matthew Murphy) |
When Connor's parents publish Evan's letter online, it suddenly becomes a viral sensation. Soon, all kinds of people are claiming Connor as their inspiration, and trying to find some connection that will prove he was their friend. Evan's honor student friend, Alana Beck (Phoebe Koyabe), comes up with the idea of launching "The Connor Project." Another loner, the sarcastic and amoral Jared Kleinman (Jared Goldsmith), ends up providing web content. In no time at all, the shit hits the fan.
With music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (and a book by Steven Levenson), Dear Evan Hansen received its world premiere at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. in July 2015. An Off-Broadway production at Second Stage Theater in the spring of 2016 led to a transfer to Broadway's Music Box Theatre later that year. The musical scored six wins at the 2017 Tony Awards and won the 2018 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theatre Album.
Beautifully directed by Michael Greif, with choreography by Danny Mefford and music supervision and orchestrations by Alex Lacamoire, this show is very much a product of its time (it could not have been conceived prior to the advent of social media). The set design by David Korins (hugely enhanced by Peter Nigrini's multi-screened, rapidly changing projections) gives the production a sense of the rapid -- and often random -- firing of synapses within a teenager's brain.
With costumes by Emily Rebholz, lighting by Japhy Weideman, and sound design by Nevin Steinberg, Dear Evan Hansen explodes onstage as its title character gets swallowed by a fake narrative while three parents struggle to make contact with the sons they never really knew. I tip my hat to Benj Pasek and Justin Paul for finding a way to capture the staccato bursts of conflicting thoughts racing through a lonely teenager's mind ("Waving Through A Window") and contrasting such moments with the lyricism of young love ("If I Could Tell Her," "Only Us") and the anguish of confused parents ("Anybody Have A Map?").
This touring company of Dear Evan Hansen boasts an outstanding cast, with Jessica Phillips doing impressive work as Evan's mother, Heidi, and Christiane Noll eliciting sympathy as Connor's distraught mother. Maggie McKenna does a nice job as Evan's fantasy girl, Zoe -- even as his fantasy becomes incredibly real. Aaron Lazar steps up to the plate as Connor's grieving father, who ends up giving Evan the kind of attention he never received from his biological father.
In life as well as in Evan's mind, Marrick Smith's Connor offers a strong counterpoint to Evan's various neuroses. On opening night, Ben Levi Ross gave a stunning performance, with every tic, stutter, blink, and twitch perfectly capturing the body language of a teenager who, back in the old days, would have been labeled as the class spazz.
Since theatre fans thrive on trivia, it may be of interest to note that Ben Levi Ross (who is portraying Evan in the national tour) has been dating Taylor Trensch (who took over the role of Evan in the Broadway production).
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| Taylor Trensch and Ben Levi Ross |
Performances of Dear Evan Hansen continue through December 30 at the Curran Theatre (click here for tickets).
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