Ohio State Theatre to bring reality to theater through ‘Wilderness’

Matt Ratterman
Fri, 17 Feb 2023 02:13:39 +0000
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Cast members run through the show as they prepare for Ohio State Theatre’s Wilderness Show. Credit: Courtesy of J. Briggs Cormier

Troubled youth camps, programs that often redirect misbehaving or uncontrollable children through wilderness education and time in nature, are at the heart of a play coming to campus.

Ohio State’s Department of Theatre, Film and Media Arts’ production of “Wilderness” will portray the trauma and revelations real teenagers and their parents had to go through from troubled youth camps. “Wilderness” opened Wednesday and will run until Feb. 23, according to the department’s website.

The production is verbatim theater and a docudrama — using real people’s quotes as dialogue and documentary material in the show — which follows six teenagers as they experience a troubled youth camp. The production includes real video footage of the parents of the teenagers alongside their character’s portrayal on stage. The teenagers delve into their gender, sexual identity, addiction and mental health and work together throughout the show in ways to overcome these problems, according to the show’s website.

According to its website, the playwrights used recorded interviews with former patients of the camps, parents and counselors for its dialogue. One playwright, Anne Hamburger, helped write the play off of her own experiences with these groups of people and used that access to gain more insight.

While there are potential triggers for audience members, some of the cast believes the show is beneficial for people dealing with the similar issues, first-year graduate in acting and cast member Angelina Steshenko said.

“If the story has truth, people will resonate to it, and they will garner empathy to it, and they will leave thinking about something or making their own connections, and hopefully [the show] leaves them asking questions, inquiring more on their own, or having maybe a small or big revelation of their own,” Steshenko said.

Noah Bennett, a first-year graduate in theater and performer in “Wilderness,” said blending theater and real-life stories can help audiences connect with the piece.

“I think it just brings a sense of authenticity to the piece,” Bennett said. “Maybe it’s something that people can find themselves in these not just characters, but people a little bit.”

While many cast members have to get into character, the difficult topics covered can take a toll on the actors, and Director Mandy Fox said the cast has to find ways to separate these characters and their problems from their real lives.

“When the mood gets heavy, we do a type of self-care,” Fox said. “We’ll get up and play a game or do something stupid.”

The students said they noticed how well the exercises and activities have helped them switch their characters off after a hard rehearsal day.

“I think that that’s really helpful as to have exercises that you can do or a game that you can play that really cleanses your palate so that you can bridge between work and leaving that at work,” Steshenko said.

General admission will be $20 each night and discounted to $15 for students and $18 for staff. The one-act play has an expected runtime of 90 minutes. With this production comes a trigger warning for people who have or are currently experiencing trauma from regarding gender, sexual identity, addiction and mental health problems as well.

This story was updated Feb.18 at 10:27 p.m. to properly reflect the cost of tickets for staff.