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| Photo credit: The Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company |
Playwright:
Catherine Trieschmann
Date of Performance: Friday, November 2, 2012
Running Time: 2 hours (including 15 minute
intermission).
With a title like “How the World Began,” one would expect a pretty ambitious message, and this production delivers exactly that. Big ideas, a conflict of core beliefs, and outstanding performances come together here to create an uncommonly rewarding theater experience.
Susan Pierce (played with
big dollops of sincerity and condescension by Emily Paton Davies) is a pregnant
science teacher who has landed in Plainview Kansas after it was devastated by a
tornado. The seventeen fatalities
are still open wounds in the community, and it doesn’t take her long to rub some salt in those wounds.
Pierce, the teacher, is on a dual mission
here. She wants to “do some good”
by helping Plainview recover from a tragedy. She also wants to have health insurance to cover the costs
for her pregnancy and childbirth.
Mixing motives that are simultaneously altruistic and selfish diminishes
her integrity from the outset.
The new teacher gets into a
predictable conflict with the rural Plainview community over “how the world
began.” She teaches evolution,
partly because it’s required curriculum, but mostly because it’s one of her
core beliefs. When challenged by
Micah Staab, one of her students, she quickly becomes ground zero in the "evolution versus creation" debate. Those two conflicting and mutually
exclusive versions of “the truth” are an impregnable barrier between the teacher
and her student.
The script wisely doesn’t
focus the debate on the faith and/or facts required for each theory. Rather, it spotlights the relationships
between the two tribes. The
competing “truths” can never be reconciled; only one explanation can be
correct. True believers on both
sides cannot compromise without nullifying their most important principles. It’s a standoff; no minds will be
changed by any inconvenient facts or arguments. That paradox has a profound, and
negative, impact on the way the teacher and the student treat each other.
“How The World Began” forces us to examine how we relate to those we
do not agree with. Is there a
better option than to dig in your heels?
Do we have to reject both the argument and the person as a package? If we won’t change our core beliefs, can
we at least respect those with whom we disagree?
Emily Paton Davies brings us
a Susan who is likeable but flawed.
She’s always the teacher, trying to share her education and wisdom. To Micah, she comes off as wrong,
arrogant, and disrespectful.
Ryan Wuestawald’s Micah is a
sensitive, thoughtful, and capable foil for Susan’s dismissive platitudes. He stubbornly uses her own words
against her, and in some real sense becomes the teacher himself. Wuestawald and Davies are acting here
at a very high level. Their
performances are stellar; they have mastered both their characters and their
craft.
The same can be said of
Chris Kendall (Gene Dinkel). He mixes
a simple approach with wisdom not learned in a textbook. He has wit, charm, and humility. He challenges the teacher and protects
the student. All three actors
bring their “A” games to this production.
Plainview is a metaphor for
the reality of the divided, red state/blue state, black and white environment
we live in. “How The World Began”
forces us to examine how we treat our philosophical opponents, who also happen
to be our neighbors, friends and family.
Much like Susan and Micah, I
am often focused on which is the “truth,” creationism or evolution. After seeing “How The World Began,” my focus shifted somewhat. I’m not sure it matters who is right or
what the “truth” is.
What really
matters is that it happened. The world exists. That much is undisputed. The world began, we are here, and we
must share this world with others. Perhaps we should make the best of the reality we are
born into, instead of becoming missionaries spreading a “truth” about why we
are here.
I could quibble with the
script; it takes a little too long to develop, and sometimes it’s preachy. But those are minor quibbles. “How
The World Began” gives us big ideas, difficult relationships, and thought
provoking theater. Your own
personal evolution may begin at the Dairy Center when you see “How The World Began.”
There can hardly
be a better recommendation for a production than that.
NOTES:
This show runs from November
4 to November 18, with performances Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. Recommended for ages 12 and up.
Costume Designer: Reagan Fair
Sound Designer: Jenn Calvano
Lighting Design: Richard Spomer
Cast:
Susan Pierce:
Emily Paton Davies
Micah Staab: Ryan Wuestawald
Gene Dinkel: Chris Kendall
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