Kicking Up 'Dust'
HCC Theater Department staging "Dust," April 16-18
It spoils nothing to reveal that all the characters are dead at the beginning of the play “Dust,” the teenage victims of a school shooting that is never shown on stage. What the audience does not know, though, is who did it, and why.
“No one survives, and that’s not a surprise,” says Fig Lefevre, director of the Holyoke Community College Theater Department’s spring production of the play by Danielle Mohlman. “We enter the space moments after the shooting. It’s a memory play, a reconstruction of what happened based on the fragmented memories of all the high school students who were there.”
“Dust” will be performed April 16-18 in the college’s Leslie Phillips Theater. Showtimes are 7:30 p.m. each night with an additional matinee at 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 18. The Friday, April 17, show will be ASL-interpreted.
Despite the weighty plot, the play is a loose adaptation of the children’s classic, “Peter Pan,” with the focus on the relationship between the two main characters, Wendy and Boy, played by student actors Alicia Ricks of West Springfield and Ben Richards of Springfield. Wendy, Boy’s first crush, is a member of the girls swim team, The Mermaids, whose spirits haunt Boy the way the mermaids in Neverland torment Peter Pan and try to drown Wendy Darling out of jealousy in J.M. Barrie’s original story.
In “Dust,” Lily (played by Ariana Dávila of Springfield) is a stand-in for the character Tiger Lily, who is put on display to dance for Peter Pan. “In our version, Lily is trying to fight back against that sexualization,” says Lefevre.
Similarly, Isabel (Kazz Cuyler of Holyoke), the Tinkerbell analogue, who comes between Wendy and Boy, is more of a feminist in “Dust,” not at all into Boy or Boy’s world.
“A lot of the characters parallel what’s happening in ‘Peter Pan, but offer a reversal of some of those dynamics,” says Lefevre.
There are also mentions of Neverland and shadows, and the title refers to the fairy dust Peter Pan steals that enables The Lost Boys to fly. (In “Dust,” Boy is an altogether different kind of thief.)
“It’s not a straight adaptation,” says Lefevre, “but there are enough references that if you’re familiar, it adds something to the experience, but you don’t need to know Peter Pan to understand the play.”
The narrative, as such, moves back and forth in time as the characters revisit and revise their memories to try to make sense of what happened.
“It’s not very realistic,” says Lefevre. “It’s a little bit exaggerated, surrealistic, with a lot of movement and dance that tries to recreate this dream-like quality.”
This is the first HCC show for Lefevre, a theater instructor who started working at HCC in September after 11 years at the University of Massachusetts as a graduate student (MFA in dramaturgy) and instructor.
“I wanted to do this play because it showcases elements that are particular to my style of directing, which is ensemble work and movement,” says Lefevre, who also serves as the play’s choreographer.
Lefevre is also a trained intimacy choreographer who has worked on shows that incorporate scenes of intimate violence, including sexual violence.
“This show talks about some of those topics, but doesn’t actually make us stage them,” says Lefevre. “I like that this play has a really good balance of both tackling tough topics and doing it in a way that felt safe. I hope the audience feels empowered at the end, rather than fear and hopelessness. I hope they come out of it feeling the women of our play, and the women in their communities, are powerful.”
The Cast:
Wendy: Alicia Ricks, of West Springfield; Boy: Ben Richards, of Springfield; Isabel: Kazz Cuyler of Holyoke; Lily: Arianna Dávila, of Springfield; The Mermaids: Nicole Anderson, of Palmer; Allison Morrisette, of Belchertown; MacKenzie Campbell, of Chicopee; Edith Colón, of Springfield; Chelle Colón, of Sunderland; Karena Linzi, of Chicopee; Shea Molbury, of West Springfield; Shaina Rose, of Easthampton; Arpeggio Toro, of Amherst; Tayor Rose Wilks, of Longmeadow.
IF YOU GO:
“Dust”
By Danielle Mohlman
Directed by Fig Lefevre
April 16-18, 7:30 p.m.
April 18, 2 p.m.
Holyoke Community College
Leslie Phillips Theater
Tickets: $10
(Available one hour before each show at the Leslie Phillips Box Office, call 413-552-2528 to reserve, or go to hcctheater.ludus.com to purchase in advance.)
