Founders, Keepers @ Echo Theatre
Photos by Robert G. McVay
—Review by Martha Heimberg
America is in chaos. Washington D.C is on fire, and those “in charge” have chosen five fifth-grade girls from around the nation to rewrite the Constitution of the United States.
In one week. Yikes!
That’s the premise of Aurora Behlke’s Founders, Keepers, winner of Echo Theatre’s 2021 Big Shout Out New Play Contest. Caroline Hamilton directs the 90-minute world premiere at the Bath House Cultural Center. The subject of this apocalyptic and dark comedy is certainly timely, given the country’s extreme political division amidst ongoing environmental and economic threats. The 21-year-old playwright, a rising college senior, brings a fresh idea to the table, imagining a near-future where the youngest citizens get the job—a huge challenge considering the swirl of issues and anger that surround them.
The fifth-graders (played by adult actors) convene in an abandoned elementary-school classroom, beautifully detailed right down to the dusty picture books and upbeat wall posters from scenic designer Clare DeVries. The set opens on one side to a tiled restroom, and the windows behind the bookshelves reveal the skyline of the flaming capital city. Landry Strickland’s lighting design flares with heat during the day and colorfully indicates evening and mornings as the characters move through their week, rolling and unrolling their bedrolls.
The strength of Founders, Keepers is found in the distinct personalities of the girls, revealed as they interact and get to know one another. (Kudos to costume designer Ariel Kregal for smart costumes that match the varied personal styles.) We all recognize bubbly, high-energy Winnie (Kristen Lazarchick), the eager extrovert with her hand up first, who loves to hug people and perform. In one bright moment, she even sings the preamble to the Constitution, a jazzy version she learned back home. Winnie keeps her Adderall in the restroom, and pulls a mysterious document from her bag when the lights go out.
Determined Tabitha (Rickeya Jones gives a poignant performance) is the “diverse” team member, trying way too hard to stand up for the values her dad says make their family special. She feels the load of that responsibility; her nerdy, asthmatic BFF Gillian (Lauren Floyd) absorbs the heat when Tabitha feels jealous that other girls know her friend’s nickname. “Gilly” sees everything, and diligently takes notes on the rag-tag proceedings. She gets her moment when gung-ho Winnie declares the Constitution is about “butts”—and Gillian explains the difference between “posterior” and “posterity.” Always good to have a reader on the team.
Volatile, tough Nicole (Caitlin Chapa) comes off as a bossy cynic at the outset, but begins to hear other ideas as she confides stories of her personal losses to shy, droll Imogen (Hadley Shipley). Gentle Imogen reveals her own sorrows, and how she loves to use her drawing skills to draw people closer to her.
The dialogue is most vivid when the girls pair off to go to the restroom or whisper to each other in the dark of night, as one draws her sleeping bag near another. Fear and insecurity cause ugly flares in the tight intimacy of the small classroom. In a funny, touching scene, one girl brags “I got my period,” while others feel shamed or just ignorant about what’s happening to their bodies. Everybody agrees it’s a stupid notion that women can’t run the country “because they have periods.” The combination of innocence, ignorance and bravado in these scenes reminds me of summer camp, but with the surreal terror of a smoking, burning capital outside the tent.
Most of the play is given over to these group dynamics, as new liaisons are made and old friendships tested. They try to get down to the assignment, but argue about everything. Can kids even do this? Should we just revise what’s here? Should we start from scratch? Has anybody even got a copy of the Constitution? (Wait and see.) Who is the Mysterious Woman (Allyn Carrell) who comes in the night? The plot is slowed by the repeated ritual of getting everyone in and out of sleeping bags, but otherwise Hamilton creates meaningful action in a talky play.
The girls work their way toward being honest about themselves, and about the need to include everyone in the work. That alone would be a great example for our current Congress. Still, it feels as though they never quite take hold of the big assignment that starts the play. Toward the end the characters do recite the familiar list of all that needs to be done, from education to environment, if we’re to have a more equitable and just society. But what about the ideas they scribble down on paper in the last scene? Now those we’d like to hear—but a dark twist at the end leaves that feeling unlikely.
There’s work to be done with Founders, Keepers, but what’s already in the play gets us thinking about how our younger citizens might view the documents of our democratic foundation. They’re showing some serious cracks—and our “more perfect union” doesn’t seem to be coming closer.
Keep working on it, kids. We need you.
WHEN: Through October 8
WHERE: Bath House Cultural Center (White Rock Lake, Dallas)
WEB: echotheatre.org
