Indy Theatre Habit

“Edges: A Song Cycle,” with music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul and directed by Matthew Cunningham, opens next weekend at Theatre on the Square.  It is not a TOTS show, however.  The newly-formed Programs theatre company will present it.  There will only be four performances.

The production – and Programs’ marketing of it – intrigues me for a number of reasons.

For one thing, it is basically a storytelling olio set to music.  Four singer-tellers in their 20s share stories that each stand alone but which are also arranged in a satisfying emotional arc.  They all, according to Programs’ press release, “examine the search for love, commitment, and meaning.”

This is, of course, a search that lasts a lifetime; it is not limited to people in their 20s.

However, Benj Paske and Justin Paul wrote the first draft of the show when they were freshmen in college.  I love this article about them published in the Albany, NY Times Union last fall.  Author Steve Barnes says the now 21-year-old and award-winning songwriting duo “would be annoying if they weren’t so adorable.” 

He quotes Albany’s Capital Repertory Theatre producing artistic director Maggie Mancinelli-Cahill as saying, “I’m amazed at their (empathy), their ability to project beyond experiences they haven’t had.”

I am at the far edge (pardon the expression) of the show’s targeted audience demographic: I am happily 47 and the show is advertised for people in their “20s to 40s.”  However, I only needed to hear Programs cast member Mikayla Reed sing a preview of the “Perfect” song at the Fringe Friday event here in Indy last weekend to know that “Edges” would speak to middle-aged me as well as to young adults.  Reed’s character sings about being afraid of being alone.  I no longer fear that – or at least not very much – but she also sings about thinking she has to be perfect in order to be loved.  I do still struggle with that.

I can tell you a little about some of the other songs in “Edges” because Programs has a vlog (video log) of the company’s creative process for this show on the front page of their website.  Better yet, you can see and hear the entries for yourself.

I’m warning you, though: watching the videos will NOT be as good as seeing and hearing these artists share their stories in person.  This is not a criticism of the video maker.  It is the nature of the art form that is live theatre.  It’s the difference between watching a movie of a kiss and actually being kissed.

Anyway, the first vlog entry is of cast member Dane Rogers singing at the Fringe Friday event.  The latest entry includes snippets of several of the songs and all of the cast and staff.  On the website there are also several still shots from rehearsals.

The whole vlog-as-live-theatre-marketing-tool thing fascinates me.  I’m not sure, yet, what I think of it.  I decided to see ”Edges” after hearing Reed and Rogers give a live sample of the show.  However, I find the vlog entries fun to watch, too.  Also, as a potential audience member I feel reassured to hear and see that a) all of the cast are more-than-competent singer-storytellers and b) the content of many of the songs will interest me.  

There is a funny song about Facebook, for example, and an endearing song about the difficulties of two sisters growing and changing.  There is a moving song about a young woman who journals compulsively and pretends to be someone she’s not ”when all I want is to live the truth.”  There is a poignant, make-me-melt song about a young man wondering if he has what it takes to be a father after all of the mistakes he has made in his life so far.  I find myself singing out loud, “Oh-h-oh, life goes on…things will be okay” throughout my day, and smiling in anticipation of hearing the other songs sung live by these four beautiful, talented, young people. (The Indianapolis production stars Dane Rogers, Mikayla Reed, Sarah Hoffman, and Brian Benson, all of whom are in their 20s.) 

The vlog makes me eager to experience their art live and in its polished entirety.

However, I think if I were an actor in this show, I would hate being so exposed in a video before I was ready to share my art – and not only exposed but recorded in that unfinished state for the public for all time.  Maybe it’s a symptom of my age – I didn’t grow up with the inherent nakedness of online social networking, and “reality” TV bores me – but I think I would find it harder to take risks during rehearsals if I knew I might be videotaped during the creative process.  

I would need a lot of specific encouragement and feedback from my director.  Since I wouldn’t have the safety of a closed rehearsal process, I would need to be able to trust, even more than usual, that my director knew what he was doing and that he cared about me as an artist.   

Can Cunningham offer that to his actors at this early point in his career?  I don’t know.  (I’m not saying he can’t or that he doesn’t.  I’m saying I don’t know.  I have never worked with him and I have never observed him working with a cast live.)  He, too, is only in his 20s.  He is not a complete beginner, by any means.  Still…in many ways he is poised on an edge himself. 

As is his theatre company.

“Edges” is the first show offered by Programs – a new theatre company formed by Cunningham and most of the other people who formed All Alike Productions earlier this year.  Cunningham is the artistic director.  Amanda Salazar is the managing director.  Zach Rosing is the producer.  Nick Herman is the music director for “Edges.”  They all presented “bare: the musical” to wild acclaim and then, for whatever reason, left the All Alike company and formed Programs instead.

I miss the All Alike name – it was easier to put in a sentence and I liked the inclusiveness of it – but I don’t need an explanation to understand the desire for a new beginning.   One of my favorite Indy theatres – the Phoenix – rose out of the ashes of the Broadripple Playhouse twenty-five years ago.  One of the reasons I love the Phoenix so much is that it continues to re-invent itself and continues to search for…well, for an understanding of love, commitment, and meaning.

That search is a life journey for all of us.

I hope that Programs (and the Heartland Actors Repertory Theatre and Actors Theatre of Indiana and the Sapphire Theatre Company and whatever other new, excellent theatre company wants to join the party) succeeds far beyond its first production.

In the meantime, I’m looking forward to seeing and hearing “Edges” next weekend.  These really are some talented young story singers.

Hope Baugh – www.IndyTheatreHabit.com

PS – To make a reservation for “Edges” please call 317-536-3892.  You may also purchase tickets online here.