Meet the cast of ‘Walden,’ the new play at TheaterWorks
TheaterWorks has tried a lot of new things to keep going during the COVID shutdown, and now to ease back into live performances. But “Walden” may be the company’s most audacious, progressive project yet.
To stage the drama in a manner that suited its up-close-and-personal, back-to-nature themes, TheaterWorks built an functional cabin on the land near the Hartford-Windsor border Riverfront Recapture recently purchased. The play’s characters live in it. Audiences look through the windows or gaze at the porch, watching them while listening as closely as possible thanks to headphones. There are even chickens strolling around the yard.
Innovation does not come without risk. Recent thunderstorms flooded some storage areas. The cabin withstood the elements, but opening night had to be pushed back to July 27.
Amy Berryman’s play has had just one production before this, a few months ago in England, on a conventional stage. This is the North American premiere of “Walden.” The production is further distinguished by having a
predominantly Asian cast and design team, led by Singaporean director Mei Ann Teo.
TheaterWorks doesn’t have a monopoly on timely modern dramas. Playhouse on Park’s outdoor production of “Kill
Move Paradise” last month was a street-smart knockout. But you have to marvel at the serendipity of a play that debates the ethics of space travel debuting in the same month that two billionaires launched their own commercial spaceships. There are also provocative discussions of environmentalism and ecological activism.
The Courant held a conference call with the three-person cast of “Walden”: performer/installationist/musician/queer activist Diana Oh, who plays Stella; Jeena Yi (from the post-modern Greek tragedy “Girls” at Yale Repertory Theatre in 2018), who plays Stella’s sister Cassie; and Gabriel Brown (“A Raisin in the Sun” and “Love & Money” at Westport Country Playhouse) as Cassie’s fiance Bryan.
In the slightly science-fictional play, Cassie — an astronaut fresh from a yearlong stay on the moon — visits Stella, who has become disillusioned with her own career and with Bryan, who has embraced a quiet life in the wilderness.
The actors are all new to TheaterWorks and to Hartford, and are making the most of their summer here. They share a love for the script, a desire to explore and the experience of working at TheaterWorks. “It’s just feels so humane,” Yi says. “At this time in the world when the humane has prevailed.”
The Great Outdoors
Oh: We’ve been rehearsing quite a bit outdoors. We’re getting wet. We’re getting bit. But you wear boots. You wear bug spray. We’ve been in the space for two weeks. It’s a house, a literal cabin in the woods. There’s a lot of technology to make this all work.
Yi: I’ve done outdoor shows before, but like Shakespeare in the Park, not something immersive like this. Chickens are part of our home. The vibe and the environment are so much a part of the play.
Brown: It was incredibly natural and freeing in an interesting way. This is Diana’s and my home, and Jeena is coming over to visit. Whenever we can get out there we get out there. The benefit of the mics and headphones is the intimacy. The audience will hear us breathing, whispering. Usually, if you’re playing outside, you’re told to be big and loud. Instead, this will be voyeuristic for the audience. It’s like a new game and we’re all in it together. We feel very much in tune with nature. We see little bunnies hop around.
Issues and Emotions
Brown: I said at my audition that, as artists, it is our duty to do this play. The issues are so right here, right now. What’s so cool is that it deals with big issues, but it’s also a classic kitchen-sink drama.
Yi: I instantly fell in love with these characters, with this story. It’s an amazing story about where we are all heading, but it’s also an amazing story about sisters. It’s rare for plays like this to be sent to me, as an Asian-American actor, though it’s not specific to any race.
Oh: I have mainly been performing my own work, by choice. It’s the sibling relationship I was really drawn to. I just got it right away. From the beginning it’s a healing journey.
From Stage to Stream
Like a number of other recent shows that allow audiences come back to the theater at their own speed, “Walden” is offered both live and streaming. The two versions even overlap. It is playing live in person — with the cabin and the headphones — July 27 to Aug. 22, Tuesday through Sunday at 8 p.m. on the Riverfront Recapture property at 100 Meadow Road in Windsor. It is streaming Aug. 15 to 29. In-person tickets are $95 for a lawn seat or $150 for the front row. Streaming tickets are $25. TheaterWorks has devised another of its “Pop Up” streaming presentations with added comments and theater trivia, available Aug. 20 to 29. twhartford.org or 860-5277838.