The Province

Navigating middle school

Early teen-hood takes centre stage in production of 13

- SHAWN CONNER

Adolescenc­e is a fraught time, as memory and John Hughes have taught us.

But, when the period between child- and adulthood is covered in pop culture, the focus is not usually on early teen-hood — as is the case in the 2007 musical 13.

“I think most teen movies are focused on 17- or 18-year-olds,” said Laura Reynolds. “These kids (in 13) are in middle school, in Grade 8. They’re having their first kisses and they’re trying to figure out what going to school is like.”

Reynolds is directing Eternal Theatre Collective’s production of 13, which features a cast between 13 and 18 years of age and a crew barely old enough to drink in the U.S. Reynolds, a University of B.C. Master of Fine Arts student who has studied theatre in London, is 20 years old.

Thirteen follows Evan Goldman (Elias Verheyen), a New York adolescent forced to decamp, with his newly divorced mother, to small-town Indiana. With his bar mitzvah looming, Evan is concerned with making friends with all of the cool kids at his new school, and not with the social outcasts who seem to be drawn to him.

One of his new friends is Archie, a 12-year-old with muscular dystrophy, played by Matthew Tucker.

“I did a lot of research online and went with a couple of other members of the cast on a Walk for Muscular Dystrophy,” said the 18-year-old, an actor with Arts Umbrella credits. “We saw how people live with muscular dystrophy and how they get around.”

In addition to Tucker, Kendra Cordick, Jeremy Cruz, Will Davis, Ryan Horton, Brittany Kliewer, Nicholas Kluftinger, Cameron Leong, McKenzie Newton, Maya Piscopo, Colette Richardson, Jen Shannon and Raine Welsh star in the production.

Reynolds is collaborat­ing with the cast to an extent that even they might not realize.

“Because they’re the age of the characters, a lot of what I, the choreograp­her (Hailey Fowler) and vocal director (Paolo Camia) have put in are things that we’ve seen while they’re hanging out,” she said. “We want to show their personalit­ies.”

For instance, the director noticed that, at lunch, cast members would spin around in their chairs. “So now, in one of the scenes, in the background we have them spinning around and goofing off.”

Musical theatre veteran Jason Robert Brown (Parade, The Last Five Years, Bridges of Madison County) wrote the music for the show, which was first mounted in Los Angeles in 2007.

Though a decade old, “the script (by Dan Elish and Robert Horn) feels surprising­ly ahead of its time,” Reynolds said, in regard to cellphone distractio­n and social media. “Our production focuses a lot on cellphones and how young teens can spread rumours in an instant.”

Asked if 13 rings any bells for her, Reynolds said that the drama around friendship­s feels familiar. “There are a lot of rumours in this show,” said Reynolds, who counts the movie Mean Girls among her favourite pop-culture depictions of teens.

“I think everyone goes through that, of not knowing what’s going on or what people think about you and trying to figure out who your real friends are. That’s what the main character (of 13) goes through.”

For Tucker, the show is a reminder that what seemed important just a few years ago no longer seems so weighty.

“I’m 18 now, but I can look back at all these 13-yearolds, and they think all this is the end of the world if things don’t go right, if they’re not popular,” he said. “These problems that felt so big then, they don’t matter anymore.”

 ??  ?? Matthew Tucker plays Archie, a 12-year-old with muscular dystrophy, in the musical 13.
Matthew Tucker plays Archie, a 12-year-old with muscular dystrophy, in the musical 13.
 ??  ?? Gossip plays a major role in 13, a new production of a musical about young teens.
Gossip plays a major role in 13, a new production of a musical about young teens.

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