By Ben Watson
Leave It in Writing, an original memory play by Tanner Tate, serves as the freshman effort by year-old New Horizons Theatre Company, and runs August 31, September 1, 3-4 at the Draper Historic Theatre.
Creating a new production from a group of actors with unfamiliar material is not unlike the challenge of crafting a family. Each grows and is full of hope. So too is Leave It In Writing, the story of the Wakefield family told through the reminiscences and writing of middle child Tucker, played comfortably by Abhijith Harikumar. His character serves as both external narrator and internal pivot around which the themes of family, love, and loss rotate. This is a story that is at once recognizable and unsettling. Staged simply in the Wakefield living room, it is as comfortable as the worn sofa with that one spring that pokes and digs at our collective memory. At a short 75-minute run time with no intermission, we get to experience the multi-year arc of changes without interruption.
As the Wakefield family gathers together on couches and floor to watch a favorite TV show, a scene which resonates with many, we are introduced to Tuckers younger brother Bud, earnestly played by Benjamin Tate, and Logan Thompson as older brother Sammy. Also in this mix is Elise Koehler as sister Anna, McKenzie Maag as mom Natalie, and father Daniel, played by Spencer Riley. Against Harikumar’s Tucker, Koehler, Tate, and Thompson play out the timeless sibling challenges of passing the buck and who’s sitting in my spot. Maag and Riley introduce conflict into the reverie genuinely, but some opening night hesitation is evident. The duo find their stride, however, and that awkwardness serves to highlight the estrangement to come.
Time inevitably passes for the Wakefield clan, and as happens, children go their separate ways. Sammy deals with the struggles of separation and substance abuse, which to author Tanner Tate’s credit, serve not to destroy him, but to put him in the path of his redemption at the hands of Jenna Orwin’s Brianna, with help from Tucker. Other outside forces arrive in the form of McKinley Gunther as Aunt Amberly, Helaman Wayman as cheating boyfriend Thomas, and Amanda Hornberger as Audrey. Harikumar and Koehler are particularly adept at displaying the emotions of a brother and sister who reunite after a long absence, and the younger Tate grows nicely into Bud’s changing place in the family.
Hope for the future characterizes the later scenes in Leave It In Writing. The hope that a family torn apart by the ravages of time and selfishness can come back together. Maag’s Natalie is the mostly unseen catalyst during this stage, but her brief appearances as a suburban mom turned rock groupie highlight the unexpected turns that can happen, and the extremes of her costume and hair are appropriate counterpoint to the glimmer of maternal love she sends. Maag treats these scenes with a light, professional touch.
Lives move on, and so too families, and the Wakefields are no exception. Leave It In Writing is an ambitious journey for a first-time production. Director Tate does a nice job of bringing together a company core. While the dialog and exposition in the script might do with a bit of parsimony, the cast keeps the energy high and never lets the emotion wallow. Though some thematic elements might be unsettling for the under 13 crowd, the ideas presented are hopeful and endearing. Makayla Conner helps this effort with smart costume design which enhances the familiarity. Tate and his gang at New Horizons Theatre Company seem to be on the rise in the Utah theater scene.
Leave It In Writing is an enjoyable morsel of Tennessee Williams-like memory, sharing the common theme of hope binding us together. Catch it at Draper Historic Theatre before it, like a fleeting memory, is gone.
New Horizons Theatre Company presents Leave It In Writing by Tanner Tate
Draper Historic Theatre, 12366 S 900 E, Draper, Utah 84020
Aug 31, Sept 1, 3-4 7:00 PM
Tickets at the door
New Horizons Theater Company Facebook Page
Draper Historic Theatre Facebook Page
Leave It In Writing Facebook Event
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