Andy’s Summer Playhouse has always operated under a model of prioritizing new work and input from children. This summer’s opening play is no exception.
“The Path Less Chosen” is a choose-your-own-adventure style play that opens at Andy’s, located in Wilton, on June 30 at 7:30 p.m. and will run through July 9. According to producing artistic director of the program and writer/director of the play, Jared Mezzocchi, it’s unlike anything they’ve done before.
“I feel like I’m learning a new language, but the kids are doing great,” he said. “They’re proving to us that it’s possible.”
Prior to becoming the producing artistic director in 2015, Mezzocchi was on staff for Andy’s starting in 2009. Before that, he participated in summer programs from 1996-2003.
This summer will be the first full season since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The theater will put on three shows, all held in the playhouse.
Following “The Path Less Chosen,” Andy’s will present “Giant Slalom,” a play about three teenage girls who are competitive skiers. Mezzocchi says he’s excited for young actors to be able to explore more mature content, and getting to see children portray characters their own age. The show was written by Jess Honovich and will be directed by Jenna Place.
“The experts of 17-year-olds are 17-year-olds,” Mezzocchi said.
“Giant Slalom” will run from July 14-16.
The final show of the season will be a musical entitled “Out There,” written and directed by Alex Stroming and composed by Dylan Glatthorn. According to the theater, the play is about “aliens, astrophysics, theater, and imaginary friends, asking questions of identity as community and as self,” and will run from Aug. 11-20.
During the pandemic, Andy’s had a variety of creative ways to keep their mission alive. In 2020, they went fully remote and invested in an online portal where children could participate in activities and programs with artists from around the world, called the Digital Renaissance Project. Artists and children worked together on workshops and activities, and participants could indicate which workshops held the most interest for them.
“It’s a new world coming out of the pandemic, and the new leaders are going to be these kids,” Mezzocchi said.
By the end of the summer, the Digital Renaissance Project completed 322 projects in 14 weeks with the help of 91 artists. This success also rewarded Andy’s with the 2021 Governor’s Silver Lining Resilience in the Arts Award. This award was a way to showcase artists that persisted in creative ways during the first year of COVID.
According to Mezzocchi, one lasting benefit of this project was the ability to reach children who may be located a little further away from Andy’s. Mezzocchi said that in some cases, once children participated in the remote programs, they and their families realized that Andy’s is worth the travel, and there are multiple new families this summer.
One such family includes Grace, Eve, and Daisy Mack. The sisters first joined Andy’s through the Digital Renaissance Project in 2020, and now make an hour-long drive for their hometown of Hampstead, multiple times a week.
“We loved it so much we decided to come back in person,” said Eve.
The Mack sisters unanimously feel excited to perform “The Path Less Chosen,” but also for audiences to be able to participate in it.
“What’s appealing to me is that it’s going to be different every single night, and it’s an interactive play, so (the audience) can feel like they’re a part of it,” said Eve.
Due to the collaborative model of Andy’s, they feel well prepared for the challenge.
“Other theater groups, you’re just performing theater. But at Andy’s, you’re making theater,” said Grace. “We are writing the script as the show goes. I’ve been writing some of my lines. The show really looks nothing like it did when we started out, which is always the fun of it.”
“It’s very possible,” said Daisy.
In 2021, Andy’s put on one production which involved actors inside the building and an audience watching a projection of the play on its outside wall. However, according to Mezzocchi, this wasn’t a typical livestream with a single camera angle. Participants worked lights and cameras live for the projection.
“We live-mixed a movie in real time,” Mezzocchi said.
While the 2021 production was unusual, it’s typical for Andy’s to have the whole of their productions run by children in the program.
“The professionals are hands-off during the show,” Mezzocchi said. “The kids do the lights, the sound, everything.”
On top of running the production, “The Path Less Chosen” will challenge participants in new ways. According to Mezzocchi, the idea of a choose-your-own-adventure play has been present at Andy’s for a few years, but the persistence of the children during the pandemic showed staff that it was really possible.
“The fearlessness of the young artists here allows us to promote taking risks,” he said.
Liliana Juarez and Leaf McNiss, two actors who are new to Andy’s this summer, spoke to the distinctiveness of this type of play.
“I think it’s a really fun show, and I’ve never seen anything like it,” Liliana said. “It’s a great idea that for some reason has just never really been done before. It’s very complicated, it’s a lot of steps and it’s a big process to make it happen. But it should be super fun for the audience.”
For Leaf, “The Path Less Chosen,” is his first ever theater experience, and the uniqueness is part of what drew him to Andy’s.
“I chose to join for this specific play because it seems like a challenge and (I thought) that would be fun,” he said. “I do like the fact that it’s a little bit more interactive with the performers too, (and) the way that anything could happen.”
Each audience member will receive two buttons. Every time a decision has to be made, the audience’s responses are recorded through a computer system and projected onto a graph on stage. Acts one and two both start off with the play’s opening scene, giving each audience a chance to see the story play out in two different ways.
According to Mezzocchi, the play is intended to start of with a familiar and local feel, which then evolves into chaos as decisions are made. For this reason, the opening scene is set in a Market Basket.
“A seemingly normal day turns into a ‘world domination, chaos reigns,’ sort of thing,” he said.
Mezzocchi feels strongly that Andy’s is a safe space that allows children to grow, which is why they come back year after year.
“I would like to believe that they feel heard and seen, because the words on stage are influenced and owned by them,” he said. “As an alumni, I’ve encountered nothing like it. The older I get, the more special it is. Adults and children working eye to eye becomes pretty revolutionary.”
“There’s a place for everyone at Andy’s,” said Grace.