Elaine Bard is not squeamish. Whether she’s spraying gallons of fake blood all over the Keith Anderson Community Center in Orono or asking both performers and audience members to confront a spectrum of difficult emotions, when it comes to theater, everything is on the table.
“We like to take chances. We like to do things that are edgy. We want to do new shows and things people haven’t seen in the area,” said Bard, executive director of Some Theatre Company, an Orono-based theater group. “You can’t be afraid to confront something just because it makes you uncomfortable.”
Some Theatre produced four shows in its inaugural year, beginning with “Evil Dead: The Musical,” staged in November 2015 (and which utilized the aforementioned fake blood), and continuing with “Clue: The Musical” in March 2016 and “Peter/Wendy” in May.
Its newest show is “Next to Normal,” the Pulitzer Prize-winning 2009 musical, which opens on Nov. 4 at the Keith Anderson, and runs for two weekends.
Over the course of two hours, “Next to Normal” takes the audience through a dizzying array of emotions, from the ecstatic highs of teenage love, to the crushing lows of a depressive state. The musical tells the story of Diana Goodman, a suburban mom trying to cope with bipolar disorder coupled with delusions, and the fallout her family faces around her illness.
Surrounding Diana is her family — husband Dan (Jason Wilkes), and teenage daughter Natalie (Nichole Sparlin) and son Gabe (Brandon Clark) — all of whom must grapple with their mother’s increasingly erratic behavior. Natalie’s boyfriend, Henry (Logan Bard) and Diana’s doctor, Dr. Madden (Shayne Bither) are also drawn into the mix.
“We chose this show because, first off, it’s an amazing show with incredible music, but also because it’s really about something that everyone in some way experiences, but we still really don’t talk about,” said Bard. “Everybody is touched by mental illness in some way.”
Diana, portrayed by Christina Belknap, is the centerpiece of the show and one of the great female characters in modern musical theatre. It’s a tour de force kind of role, with more than 12 individual songs for the character and a role in nearly every scene. “Next to Normal” features very little spoken dialogue; almost the entire show is sung through, with complicated, highly emotional songs for all six cast members — especially for the character of Diana, who undergoes a complete mental breakdown over the course of the play.
Belknap knew she wanted to take on the role of Diana after initially getting acquainted with the show. In addition to her acting and singing, she also is co-musical director of the show with her co-star, Wilkes.
“It’s an absolutely thrilling role to play, and when Elaine said she wanted to do this show, I said to myself ‘I have to play Diana,’” said Belknap, who’s also been seen in shows from Ten Bucks Theatre Company and Winterport Open Stage. “You really have to put it all out there. A show like this forces you to be vulnerable.”
A 2015 study by the National Alliance on Mental Illness found that one out of every 25 American adults experiences a serious mental illness within a given year — meaning that it’s almost certain that you know someone that has dealt with mental illness, if you haven’t dealt with it yourself.
“I really think everybody knows somebody that goes through this,” said Nichole Sparlin. “It’s kind of universal, and yet people really don’t talk about it.”
Though “Next to Normal” puts its audiences through an emotional wringer and is unsparing in its portrayal of mental illness, it’s not a downer. Rather, as a New York Times review put it when it first came out, it’s a “feel everything musical.”
“It will make you cry, and it will make you laugh,” said Bard. “And the music is just beautiful.”
Bard and company have made some waves in the Bangor area theater scene over the past year, bringing in fresh, young actors to perform newer shows, mostly musicals, often with a bit of an edge. “Evil Dead: The Musical,” performed around Halloween last year, was an unexpected hit, with sell out crowds for its whole run. Bard wrapped the Keith Anderson Community Center in plastic wrap and had a “splatter zone” in the audience for those that wanted to get doused in fake blood during the show, based on the cult classic 1980s horror movie.
For “Next to Normal,” the edginess stems from the subject matter. On the production side of things, the set is minimal but multilayered, with platforms built out into the audience. Notably, Bard and fellow Some Theatre volunteers have fully transformed the Keith Anderson stage into a black box theater with brand-new LED lighting, an update to the facility that will also benefit the many other performers that utilize the building.
Bard, who has directed, designed for and acted in plays in the Bangor area for more than a decade, has built Some Theatre not just on the goal of taking creative risks, but also on providing an opportunity for younger actors and newbies to get involved in theater, no matter their background or economic status.
“I think there are a lot of people that want to do theater, but don’t because they’re intimidated,” said Bard. “Nobody gets turned away with us. We will find a place for you. If you’ve never done theater, give it a shot. If you used to do it and want to try again, give it a shot. Our biggest goal is to be inclusive of everybody.”
Cast members Bither, Clark and Sparlin are all relatively new to theater — Bither, 37, made his theater debut in “Evil Dead” last year, and his wife, Corissa, is stage managing “Next to Normal,” her first time in that role. Sparlin had only acted in a handful of high school and college productions before starting to work with Some Theatre.
“There’s so much growth potential here,” said Sparlin, 23, a New England School of Communications student at Husson University. “When I started out here in ‘Evil Dead’ I was terrified, because I’d never done theater outside of school. But it really ended up being an amazing experience. Not only do you play and have a good time, but you work. You work on yourself as a person and as an actor.”
“Next to Normal” will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 4 and 5 and Nov. 11 and 12 and 2 p.m. Nov. 5 and 6 and 12 and 13, at the Keith Anderson Community Center at 19 Bennoch Road. Tickets are $20 for general admission, with $10 student rush tickets available on the day of the show. There are also a select number of $55 partially tax-deductible VIP Patron of the Arts tickets, which includes preferred seating, refreshments and recognition in the playbill and online.
