Unconventional love story debuts this week at Studio 124
Apr. 10—From the title, one might expect "Gruesome Playground Injuries" to be a horror genre entry with plenty of blood and "icky" moments. Yet the play is nothing of the kind.
"Gruesome Playground Injuries" is a love story at its heart, if an unconventional one. This Rajiv Joseph-penned dark comedy follows two best friends, Doug and Kayleen, over the course of 30 years. Their interactions usually occur in a hospital or doctor's office where they end up comparing physical scars that have marked their most interesting moments. Think of the scene around the table on the boat from the movie "Jaws," but without the ocean and the shark.
"For me ... I think these characters are people we've all met. They're the kind of people who life just sort of happens to," said the play's director, Allison Dodge. "It's incredibly interesting to see how two people can love each other so much, but the timing is never quite right. They have a very codependent relationship that you recognize is toxic, but also you're always hoping that somehow they'll work it out."
As a sophomore at Missouri Southern, Dodge was attending an acting class when two classmates performed a scene from the play.
"I was incredibly captivated and basically immediately went home to read it," said Dodge, a veteran actor. "Ever since then, I've been waiting for a chance to direct it."
This is Dodge's debut as a director of a full-length show. She directed several one-act plays at Southern, and she recently was assistant director for "The Complete History of America (Abridged)."
"I think many people do tend to stick with one route when in the theater because it can be very difficult and energy-consuming to try and tackle all the different elements of theater at once, but it obviously has been done before," Dodge said. "For me, I just love both (directing and acting), and I instinctually just kind of know when a show is something I want to be in, or something I want to direct. I'm drawn to both in very different ways, and I truly don't think I could ever commit to just one aspect of theater."
The cast has just two people — Elijah Brown playing Doug and Chansey Rhoads playing Kayleen.
"I love having small casts because you really get to bond with them and get to know their thoughts on the play," Dodge said. "There are nights we could easily spend hours just talking about the way we feel about certain scenes or how we're going to tackle a certain aspect of the show. Each of the actors brings something to the characters I didn't necessarily see before, but also even in their audition, they both encapsulated the essence of who I felt these characters were."
Just as the small cast fits Dodge's directing strengths, the play — which is for mature audiences only — is suited to the cozy space inside Joplin's Studio 124, she said.
"This is not the type of show I'd want to do where you have 30 feet of space between the actors and the audience," Dodge said. "I like that it's very intimate; that really helps set the tone for the show."
"Gruesome Playground Injuries," a Dream Theatre Troupe event, starts at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday at Studio 124, 124 S. Main St. Tickets are $12 and can be purchased and reserved at showtix4u.com/event-details/49455. Audience members are required to wear masks.
"Ultimately when audiences leave, I think they'll all have a different understanding of the show," Dodge said. "I don't think this show is the kind that everyone leaves with the same message or feeling. If people enjoyed their experience and will have something to remember from seeing the show, that is a success in my book."
