The recent West Liberty-Salem High School shooting has left a rural village shaken and its inhabitants reeling. It’s the second such incident in our region in the past year. “How could it happen here?” ask bewildered community members.
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Their questions and their reactions make this week’s opening of “26 Pebbles” at the Human Race Theatre Company especially relevant and timely.
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The bio-play, which runs from Feb. 2 through Feb. 19 at the Loft Theatre, is based on real life interviews with the people of Newtown, Conn. The idyllic New England town was dramatically transformed on Dec. 16, 2012, when a 20-year old shooter took the lives of 20 small children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School before turning the gun on himself.
The world premiere drama inspired by that tragedy comes from the pen of Eric Ulloa, a New York actor and playwright who couldn’t stop thinking about the massacre. “I was so angry and couldn’t shake that anger,” he says now. “I realized I wasn’t doing anything about it but that I had a voice as an actor and a writer. I determined to go to Newtown.”
Ulloa says he couldn’t help wondering what would become of a community after such unspeakable tragedy.
Determined to find out more by visiting the town, he began posting messages on Facebook stating that he was an actor and writer who wanted to talk to residents about how their town was faring months after the tragedy. Reluctant at first, one by one people began opening up to him. Their reflections became the script for Ulloa’s new play.
“It’s an affluent town of 20,000 people, the kind of town where everyone knows each other,” he says, adding that Newtown looks like Grover’s Corners in “Our Town” or Disney’s Main Street. “When you go there you see the white steeple church, the general store, the town hall. It’s all so idyllic.”
It’s the last place, he says, that you would expect this kind of thing to happen. “They kinda thought they had created this bubble and then something came along to burst that bubble.”
Ulloa emphasizes that his show is not about the event, but the hope that emanates from the event. “Newtown is a metaphor for any hardship or tragedy and how we process it,” he says. “The tragedy happened in the winter and I visited Newtown in the spring when flowers had started to bloom. I saw the community emerging from the darkness and finally beginning to get their footing.”
QUESTIONS ANSWERED IN NEWTOWN
When he headed for Newtown, Ulloa took along his dog, Bastian, and five questions:
1. Tell me all about Newtown. What are your favorite things/traditions you have here?
2. Take me through your day on 12/14, from morning to night.
3. Does this shake your faith?
4. What are your feelings on Adam Lanza (the murderer)?
5. What is the one word you would want Newtown to be known by?
He ended up spending three weeks in Newtown, interviewing more than 60 people. “I was given free housing — someone literally gave me their home to stay in — multiple meals, families who took care of my dog during the day and gave me access to parts of this story that no one else had,” he says, adding that many felt their story needed to be told and urged him to tell it. “In many ways this is why theater was created,” Ulloa says. “To tell stories of our own world.”
Every word of his new play comes directly from the mouths of those affected by the tragedy. “It’s not a play I wrote, it’s a puzzle that came together and clicked,” he says. The 26 deaths were described by one resident as “pebbles thrown into a pond” that created ripples that captured the attention of the entire nation. “They talk about how they feel about having him (the murderer) as part of their community,” Ulloa says. “They realized they raised him and were accountable.”
Money raised from the show's "Pay What You Can" dress rehearsal on Feb. 1 will go to Sandy Hook Promise, a non-profit organization that seeks to reduce gun violence and educates others to "Know the Signs" that may indicate someone who is in crisis or planning violence. The organization's Ohio coordinator, Annie Stephens, will speak on Sunday, Feb. 12, after a 2 p.m. performance.
Audiences are introduced to the townspeople at a town hall meeting. Six actors — all from our area — portray a number of Newtown residents. Costume accessories help identify them as they move from character to character. “It doesn’t re-enact or take you through the actual event,” the playwright reminds. “The meat of this play is what takes place after the shooting.”
WANT TO GO?
What: "26 Pebbles," a world premiere presented by the Human Race Theatre Company
When: Feb. 2-19. Show times are 8 p.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings. Performances on Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings begin at 7 p.m., and at 2 p.m. for Sunday matinees.
Where: The Loft Theatre, 126 N. Main St., Dayton.
Tickets: Single ticket prices start at $40 for adults, $37 for seniors and $20 for students with discounts available for the preview performance on Feb. 2. Feb. 5 is "Sawbuck Sunday" with $10 seats available two hours prior to performance for walk up sales only. There are a limited number of $12 and $25 side area seats available for each performance and group discounts are available for parties of 10 or more. Call (937) 228-3630 or online: www.humanracetheatre.org
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
Although he is best known as a Broadway performer — last seen onstage in the Gloria and Emilio Estefan musical “On Your Feet!” — Ulloa is not new to Dayton or the Human Race. At a recent “Meet & Greet” for the new play, he was introduced by artistic director Kevin Moore as the “long and dear friend” who wrote the book for “Molly Sweeney: The Musical” which played the 2014 Human Race Theatre’s Festival of New Musicals. He has also been in town twice to perform in productions at the theater.
“During ‘Molly Sweeney,’ you talked about this play and from then on it was a no-brainer,” Moore said to the playwright on the evening of the “Meet & Greet.” “It is wonderfully written, powerful, funny. It is humanity.”
The son of two Cuban immigrants who settled in Florida, Ulloa says his father was a beautiful writer who composed annual letters from Santa Claus reflecting on the state of the world. He didn’t discover theater until his senior year of high school, then studied both theater and journalism at the University of Central Florida.
What he most loves about the theater, Ulloa says, is its all-consuming nature. “When you walk into a theater you can’t push ‘pause,’ ” he says. That’s also why his new play runs 90 minutes without an intermission. “Once you come in and join this community, you gotta ride this journey with them,” he says. “You can use art to change the world and still be entertaining.”
Scenic designer Scott J. Kimmins created a simple set that will crumble at the same time the community begins to deconstruct and pull apart. He’ll also project images throughout the play — ranging from Newtown’s flagpole to the thousands of pieces of mail and teddy bears that flooded the community following the tragedy.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Collaborating on the development of the production has been director Igor Goldin, who also worked with Ulloa on the “Molly Sweeney” musical. Goldin, who develops new musicals Off-Broadway, has won three New York Musical Theatre Festival Awards of Excellence.
He said the challenge of this particular piece was how to find ways to keep the story active and moving. “When you read the script it’s very presentational and static,” he explains. “How do we take these words and create a theatrical experience that’s dynamic and not just a series of monologues?”
Goldin met that challenge by examining and then integrating the various topics, statements, opinions so the townspeople can “riff off one another.” He’s also eliminated the theater’s fourth wall, inviting the audience to be part of the opening town hall meeting. Actors walk up the aisles, engage audience members looking directly in their eyes.
“People have a hard time wrapping their heads around the idea that we have a play based on a tragic event,” Goldin says. “But this play turns the mirror on all of us. It’s not about Newtown but about the human race. It’s about how a community heals together and becomes accidental activists. These people found themselves in this position — in shock, denial, grief.”
Ulloa hopes more than anything that audience members leave and continue to tell the story. “When you leave, ask yourself: ‘Can we do better?’ “
SPECIAL EVENTS
- Writer seminar with Eric Ulloa: On Saturday, February 4, The Human Race and the Ohio Playwrights Circle present "Telling Their Story," a seminar with Eric Ulloa for creative writers of all experience levels. Ulloa will talk about conducting interviews with Newtown residents and discuss his process — and responsibility — of turning their stories into an evening of theatre as a guide for writers who seek to develop literary works from actual events. The seminar is from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Loft Theatre and is open to the general public. The fee is $50 and includes a ticket voucher to "26 Pebbles." To register: see www.humanracetheatre.org or call Ticket Center Stage.
- An "Inside Track" pre-show discussion will be held on Thursday, Feb. 2, 45 minutes before the 8 p.m. performance. After the opening night show on Friday, Feb. 3, there will be a post-show lobby party. There will be Lite Fare pre-show lobby dining at 5:30 p.m. before the Feb. 7 show. On Saturday, Feb. 11, there will be an Audio Described/Sign Interpreted performance. You're asked to call in advance to make a reservation. There will be a post-show talk-back with a representative from Sandy Hook Promise following the 2 p.m. performance on Sunday, Feb. 12.
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