So begins “Insectia…the ant war,” an action-packed physical theatre show for family and school audiences that plays for two weekends, February 21-24, and February 28-March l, in the Van Duzer Theatre.
Before the day that’s portrayed is over, ants will do martial arts battle, a sweet-faced ladybug with super powers will fly onto the stage to intervene, and the ants will chase her. Bored ant soldiers will goad a caterpillar into racing a banana slug, a black widow spider will swing into action and menace the ants with her web-darts and giant spider web.
But for all the stage fighting and thrilling effects, “there’s no blood spilled, and nobody gets killed in this show, not even bugs,” said director Jyl Hewston. Instead there’s music and dancing, surprises and at least one transformation, and “there are happy endings all around.”
The story of “Insectia” was created by cast members Rachel Brink and Julia Chase, together with the rest if the cast: Jojo Bradfield, Mackenzie Cox, Natasha Harrell, Johanna Hembry, Stephanie Misiura, Katie Pratt, Andre Schnell, Claire Smith and Erin Voudy. Though the theme of an ant war was selected partly to demonstrate stage-fighting skills, the increasing incursion of combative fire ants into new territories because of climate change prompted the idea, Hewston said.
The very colorful costumes designed by Rae Robison, assisted by Erin Voudy, suggest the insect (and arachnid) characters using the popular Japanese animation style called anime, familiar to college students as well as children.
Though there’s no dialogue in the show, there is plenty of sound—not only the strange chirping of the ant languages and the black widow’s hypnotic song, but the original music of a live band, led by Gregg Moore. “Gregg and I met years ago when we were students together at Arcata High,” said Hewston, who teaches physical theatre and stage combat among other courses for the HSU Department of Theatre, Film and Dance. “When Gregg studied music in college he got so interested in theatre that he went to Europe with a mime troupe. He’s been creating original music for theatre in Europe for decades, and now he’s back finally finishing his music degree at HSU.” Moore is probably best known locally for his work with Dell’Arte.
“Insectia” got started partly due to the success several years ago of an earlier physical theatre show primarily for children. “We did something called ‘Mars Mayhem,’ about the Mars Rover,” Hewston said. “CenterArts brought in bus loads of school kids for that, and they’ve been wanting us to another show like it ever since.”
This year the cast will do four already sold-out matinees for school children. But there are also six evening shows — Thursday through Saturday, Feb. 21-23 and Feb. 28-March 1 — and one matinee on Feb. 24 at 2 p.m. for the general public. The show is under an hour in length, and the special family-friendly ticket prices are $5 general, and $3 for children, seniors and non-HSU students. HSU students are admitted free.
Tickets: HSU Ticket Office (826-3928.)
Information: http://HSUStage.blogspot.com.