Wednesday, October 19, 2011
Roanoke Children's Theatre's 'Wrecked' doesn't shy from painful truth
A Roanoke Children's Theatre performance currently running at the Taubman explores alcohol abuse in families and by teenagers.
Photos by SAM DEAN | The Roanoke Times
In one of the most powerful moments of the play "Wrecked," the character of Lyle, played by Brandon Duncan, calls 911 after younger brother Steven, played by Noah Oldham, accidentally poisons mother Sharon, played by Amanda Mansfield, thinking he was curing her from alcoholism.
Christine Wadstrom downs a prop beer in a scene from "Wrecked," a play confronting alcoholism. The Roanoke Children's Theatre performance runs through Oct. 30.
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Drunk, loaded, wasted. Wrecked.
Those are some of the terms teenage actors in the Roanoke Children's Theatre production "Wrecked" use to brag about the amount of alcohol they illegally consumed.
The play, which explores alcohol abuse in families and by teenagers, opened Tuesday at the Taubman Museum of Art. Ninth-grade students from Roanoke County's Cave Spring High School and Rivermont School in Roanoke were among the audience who saw the inaugural matinee. All public school ninth-graders in Roanoke and Roanoke County will attend a performance.
"What you saw here with this wonderful cast is happening in high schools, too," said Hilda Templeton, a Roanoke psychiatrist who attended the opening show.
The play's main character is Lyle, played by James Madison University graduate Brandon Duncan. Lyle is a teenager who tries to balance school and part-time work while simultaneously protecting his younger brother (played by Andrew Lewis Middle School student Noah Oldham) from their alcoholic mother (played by Amanda Mansfield, the theater's director of development).
The family dilemma is interspersed with tales of drinking and drug use by a separate group of teenagers throughout the play. The family's dysfunction ends with Lyle taking little brother Steven and moving out, and mom Sharon sharing her story at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.
"Theater is a different way of discussing this," artistic director Pat Wilhelms said after the show. "What I love about theater is you feel what it is like to go through something."
At a post-performance workshop with the audience, several students shared their own experiences with alcohol abuse.
"My grandmother is an alcoholic. †My mom doesn't let me see her because of that," one girl said.
A boy said his biological mother lost custody of him and his sister because she abused alcohol.
"It was hard growing up because I had no mother," he said.
Everyone in the audience received a laminated card with resources for alcohol and drug abuse. School officials also directed students to prevention clubs at each high school, guidance counselors and community programs such as Alateen.
The play continues though Oct. 30. Ticket information is available online at roanokechildrenstheatre.org.
