For children, the disruption of everyday routine can be frightening, making them feel insecure and a little unsafe. If you add in a natural catastrophe, parental separation, a few assorted ghosts and the responsibility of caring for others, you have the ingredients for a child's nightmare. Jason Tremblay's world premiere for young audiences focuses on these very real experiences and emotions as seen through the eyes of a young girl caught up in the horror of Hurricane Katrina.
Tremblay puts a human face on one of the deadliest, most costly and destructive natural disasters in American history. As the hurricane made landfall in August of 2005, Americans were stunned at the catastrophe and grieved at the images of human and property devastation. As the winds howled, the levee system failed and the flooding commenced, more than 1,800 people lost their lives, property damages were in excess of $100 billion, more than 700 people remained missing and, four years later, thousands of residents are still displaced from their homes.
An ensemble of seven actors and six musicians create a first-hand experience, recreating all the earsplitting, eye-popping turmoil of the storm as it wreaks havoc upon the lives of a little girl, her father, a pair of their elderly neighbors and one kindhearted FEMA worker. The play takes an imaginative, kid-friendly approach, softening the trauma of death and loss by including two supernatural characters. While filled with hope, the production's overall effect, however, is mixed.
Newcomer Shikira Lavonne Carter is natural and convincing as the girl who, upon hearing the hurricane is named Katrina, magically throws her name into the tempest, preventing her father (warmly portrayed by Eugene Parker) from reporting her absence to authorities (humanely embodied by Ivan Vega). The musicians are the conundrum: While they both represent the townspeople, provide some low-tech special effects (flying wheelchairs) as well as an authentic, jazz soundtrack and meteorological sound effects, they often overwhelm the actors, making it impossible to hear. The story is lost without Tremblay's words, leaving us with only the noise and chaos; but in the play’s welcome, quieter moments we discover the pathos and poetry of the play.
Reviewed by Centerstage!
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