As is its custom, Andy’s Summer Playhouse is breaking the mold with its last show of the summer, an original musical called “Out There.”
According to writer and director Alex Stroming, “Out There,” set 70 years in the future, is the story of a young girl whose mother is a famous astrophysicist working to build a portal to space. Her mother dies due to an accident in her lab. The show then fast-forwards about seven years, and the daughter finds the blueprints to her mother’s portal, finishes building it and accidentally brings a humanoid creature from space to Earth using it.
Not only does “Out There” have a unique and comedic storyline, it also has all original song and dance. This aspect is a favorite of some of the students in the show.
“It’s a very musical musical,” said Isaac Rysdam, one of the young artists performing in “Out There.” “It’s got lots of very good songs and dances, I catch myself singing a lot of lyrics to myself in the shower. It’s very catchy (and) it’s very well-written, musically speaking.”
The music was co-written by Stroming and Dylan Glatthorn, and arranged by Glatthorn.
This show is Stroming’s first time being involved at Andy’s, and she has found it to be great so far.
“What makes Andy’s unique is that they treat kids not as kids, but as fully capable artists and fully capable humans,” she said. “I want to celebrate their imagination and their energy, which is something I often wish I have more of when I work with adult artists.”
Stroming said that there is something unique that children bring to theater simply because they are so young and have a different perspective. She celebrates this in practice by allowing the actors to contribute to the final production. Not only are students allowed to ad lib in character, but Stroming actually handed over an entire scene to the actors who are involved in it. This scene, which Stroming described as a play within a play, hasn’t and will not be seen by adults until the show is finished.
“(We’re) trusting them and knowing that they’ll make that part of the show their own,” she said.
However, encouraging student contribution extends beyond just that scene, which is an aspect of Andy’s that the young artists appreciate. Rana McCloat, who is on his third season at Andy’s, said a lot of work is done to know their characters in order to make ad-libbing more natural.
“Character-building is really important,” he said. “We spend a lot of time talking about what our character wants and what our character is feeling in that moment, and I think that’s made a big difference on me personally. I feel more expressive after I do that.”
Another young artist, Vivian Boss, explained how she has learned to use her voice through rehearsing the show.
“I learned how to talk very loudly and make a lot of noise,” she said.
Speaking up at Andy’s isn’t just about volume, though. JD Dowd, an Andy’s veteran of six seasons, explained a new system implemented by Stroming called “Button.” JD explained that anyone in the cast, crew or directing team can say the word “button” if their needs aren’t being met or if their boundaries are being violated.
“It’s a tool for immediately getting whatever you need,” he said. “It’s ben great to see that my boundaries matter. We always have boundary talks about where you can be touched in a scene and outside a scene, and that has definitely made me feel more safe. I have learned a lot about the importance of being in a safe and comfortable environment. After going to Andy’s for the first time, it opened my eyes to what I liked and and didn’t like about the other theaters I went to.”
Katherine Henry echoed this.
“If you yell ‘button,’ you also don’t have to give an explanation,” she said. “If you’re uncomfortable and you yell ‘button,’ you don’t have to say anything. It’s nice to know that people have boundaries that everyone needs to respect.”
Another unique aspect of “Out There” is one that audience members wouldn’t even know unless informed by a member of the cast or crew — the fact that the vast majority of characters don’t have an assigned gender.
“About 90 percent of the characters can be any gender,” Stroming said. “I really wanted to write a show that was going to create space for all different gender identities. As someone who’s been a kid pretty recently, I wanted to write a show that I would’ve wanted to perform. I wanted to write a show that had interesting female and other-gendered characters, outside of the damsel in distress or the mom.”
This allowed most children in the cast to chose the pronouns that their characters use throughout the show.
JD, who is a transgender man, spoke to what a difference this style of playwriting makes to him.
“As a trans person here, I feel much more welcome, especially with new work. I don’t feel like I fit into a place with my vocal range, since this is a musical,” he said. “I just feel super welcome and like people will make space for people like me and that feels really important to me. A lot of the characters got to pick their own pronouns, which was really cool, especially because there are roles for non-binary people in there. (That) has been really great because in a lot of older stuff there hasn’t been. I really felt that I could be considered for any (role). I didn’t feel like I was holding myself back by being who I am.”
Stroming has seen the value of this inclusivity at work.
“(I’ve) had a few queer kids come up to me and say that this is really cool,” she said. “I would love for this to be the norm.”
“Out There” opens at Andy’s on Thursday, Aug. 11, at 7:30 p.m. and will run through Aug. 14, and then from Aug. 18 to 20. All shows are at 7:30 p.m., except for Sunday, Aug. 14, which is at 2 p.m. Tickets for all shows are $10.60, and can be ordered online at andyssummerplayhouse.org/tickets-2022, over the phone at 603-654-2613 or at the box office. Andy’s Summer Playhouse is at 582 Isaac Frye Highway in Wilton.