The Worthington Kilbourne High School theater group’s new performance, Another Universe, is a collection of eight small stories, each with a peculiar twist or concept in them. As theater director Daniel Robey describes it, “[he] like[s] to think of it as an episode of Black Mirror or like the Twilight Zone, where it’s like little things have changed in our world.”
Another Universe stands as a unique challenge for the cast and crew. This performance marks the time that the one act plays, all written by New York playwright and theater scholar Bella Poynton, will be performed all together. This will also be the first time that many of the plays will be performed on stage. Student director and junior Micah Jasinski told The Ravine that his play, The Believer, is an interesting challenge as it “had been originally performed before, in a car. Not on a stage. A car. Trying to take that aspect of it being in a car and putting that on the stage has been really fun.”
Other plays in the collection include other bizarre ideas and stories. “There’s one where someone goes to comic-con and there’s a real life Scottish highlander there,” Robey explained, “There’s another one where someone’s husband has been abducted by aliens.”
The performance also has another interesting aspect to it, as this will be the first time two of the plays will be performed. When asked about this, Robey explained that one of his jobs as the theater program leader was to select their plays over the summer. When he was looking for something to challenge the students, he found Bella Poynton’s performances, leading to him reaching out and getting permission to perform them. There was just one problem on the horizon. Robey told The Ravine that when he does a series of one act plays, he likes to have eight plays to work with. “[When] I mentioned [to her] that I wished that there were one or two more, and so Bella Poynton agreed to write two more for us.”
This play continues the trend of beginning each year with a series of one act plays, in order to teach the new students how the theater troupe operates. Since some of the cast and crew are freshman, it’s up to the upperclassmen to take the reins and help them perform to the best of their abilities. “These are all new actors,” Jasinski said, “While we’re all trying to create these shows, we’re also trying to teach these people about all these new terms having to do with theater.”
With the combination of these factors, these performances bring a unique challenge to the performers. Jasinski commented on this, saying that he enjoys the freedom the people have to take their own spins on the plays. “It’s been a crazy ride,” he said, “with many crazy things happening and many changes occurring.”
Another Universe has its opening night on October fifth, with another performance on the seventh. With all the unique situations and ideas within it, it’s for sure a must see performance for WKHS!
