The Community Players of Concord’s production of The Kid Cult Cosmology will be the first time the play has been fully staged. The premiere should be out of this world.
That’s because in it, middle school students TJ (Spencer Costigan), the group’s ringleader; Aaron (Mike Perry) and Robby (Ryan Clark) are convinced they’ve seen a UFO, sort of. They now believe – and try to convince their fellow students – that aliens are coming to save the world (and maybe help them find girlfriends).
They form a cult.
The PTA gets worried.
Tess Hodges and Griffin Stuart round out the cast, playing the roles of every other character, which include, but are not limited to: parents, teachers, students, a Venusian vampire, a governor, cheerleaders and David Bowie (sort of). The original script called for just one extra, but Community Players of Concord worked with the playwright to break it into two.
Director Doug Schwarz said he didn’t want to give too much away, but some funny and difficult parts of the show stem from the small cast and the single viewpoint.
For example, since the play is from the perspective of the boys, scenes of the PTA meetings – which they aren’t invited to – are based on the boys’ imagination.
They imagine the PTA meeting taking place in a dungeon with their principal a demonic overlord who cuts off the heads of his opposition (Stuart, plays the principal and his henchman). Everyone else in the scene, which includes at least five distinctive parents, are played by Hodges.
“We’ve had a really fun time,” Schwarz said.
It’s classified as a “surrealistic comedy,” so be prepared for the zany.
“It has a nice, geeky science-fiction vibe going for it,” he said.
Since the staging is set from the perspective of teen boys’ memories, there will be extensive use of projections, sound effects, animations and puppets to meld reality and fantasy.
The projections help transition the scenes from reality to the imagined, plus in dreams when things can change in a second. One of the scenes takes place on Venus.
“The projections give us that ability,” Schwarz said. “Something is always happening.”
The play, written by Graham Techler, won the Dogwood/Beckwith Emerging Playwright Award and the Dennis McIntyre Prize.
And, up until Friday, it has only had staged readings. The Players’ rendition will be the story’s world premiere.
Schwarz and producer/effects coordinator David Peck spoke with Techler last year while looking for other stagings of Gutenberg: The Musical. When they discovered Techler was also a playwright, they asked to see some of his work.
They fell in love with The Kid Cult Cosmology.
“I’ve never laughed as hard in rehearsals as I have for this show,” Schwarz said.
The play will be onstage for three weekends beginning Friday. Shows will be Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m. at the Hatbox Theatre inside the Steeplegate Mall.
Tickets are $17 for adults and $14 for seniors, students and members. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit hatboxnh.com.