Telling ‘Polaroid Stories’ on the Mainstage

“My name is Skinhead Girl.”

“My name is Orpheus.”

“My name is Eurydice.”

“My name is disappear. My name is disappear. My name is disappear.”

The voiceovers, overlapping, echo through the auditorium. Orange and blue spotlights illuminate a jungle gym structure, constructed from what appear to be metal pipes, erected in the middle of the stage. Overhead, strings of moss hang from the ceiling. Stage left, a pool of real water ripples; stage right, a chain-link fence blockades a region from the rest of the stage.

The scene is set for the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club’s annual Visiting Director’s Project: “Polaroid Stories.” Written by Naomi Iizuka and directed by Jacqui Parker, the play tells the story of 12 homeless teenagers who navigate their identities while coping with sexual abuse, drug addiction, and prostitution. The characters interact within the parameters of the Village, a microcosm of the real world. Based loosely on Ovid’s “Metamorphoses,” the play blends classical mythology and contemporary testimonies from real victims of homelessness.

The structure and language of the play deviate considerably from conventional theater. “While most of it is chronological, there are bits of the past in there, and it’s not one solid storyline that you can just immediately follow. There are different little stories in between,” says Enosa J. Ogbeide ’20, who plays Eurydice.

The language of the script, too, is an unorthodox mélange of the ancient and the contemporary. “The infusion of Greek Mythology really brings real life stories together with some fantasy,” Parker writes in an email. “So even though it is a tough subject matter[,] there is still love, laughter and really fun characters[,] many filled with pain but living their truth, in a language that I call ‘Street Poetry.’”

“Trying to bring together these two seemingly disparate themes into a cohesive piece was fascinating,” Jerry G. Nelluvelil ’18, assistant director, says. “Especially when you think of Greek mythology, you think of opulence and beauty. This story allows us to bring beauty and a better understanding of the issues we talk [about]…. The themes that are being tackled and the stories that are being told are new and relevant.”

“Opulence and beauty” are a far cry from the grittiness of the subject matter. “One thing that’s helpful for me to do when playing D is understanding that all the characters that we’re playing here are real stories, and it’s important to separate that from who we are as people, because we don’t want that to be a part of us,” Julius Z. R. Wade ’20 says. “But we do want to make sure that we do the stories justice and that we give respect to the tragedy that is this world that we inhabit.”

At first, those at the helm of the production were uncertain whether students would be able to handle such a serious play, according to Emily E. Bergquist ’18, a producer. “Jacqui actually brought the play to us and said, ‘Do you think this is going to be too dark for Harvard students? Do we think this is the right material?’ And my co-producer and I both read it, and we both immediately said, ‘No this is absolutely perfect,’” she says. “To me on the bigger picture, I saw it as a way for some of our amazing actors to flex their chops.”

“Working with Harvard students was humbling and challenging because I knew their lives would be very different from those in the world of the play,” Parker writes. “I remember in the beginning I was so worried about introducing them to this very real, dark world. I just kept wanting to take care of them. But they proved me wrong letting me know they could handle the play and they have worked hard to make come to life.”

Parker’s expectations for the cast were high. For Rory K. Wakeford ’20, acting with a professional director was a novel experience. “She treats us not like college students and more like real actors,” she says. “It was really nice to get that experience because I don’t feel like I’m in a college production, because I’m working with a real director.”

Cast members recognize that they approached the script with a level of privilege. “There’s sometimes the question: ‘You’re Harvard students, and you’re playing homeless kids.’ That can be seen as a strange paradox,” says Derek P. Speedy ’18, who plays Orpheus.

Kristina N. Neal ’19, an assistant director, agrees. “All the students here are in a very particular place of privilege due to the nature of our university, despite our separate economic backgrounds that we came from,” she says. “We come here, and we have access to so much that people outside of these walls don’t,” she says. “And then, physically surrounding the Yard and all the places that we live in Cambridge, there is this huge population of houseless individuals…. We know that this show can’t change the whole world, but we’re hoping that the next time you’re walking by… you acknowledge their humanity, and their dignity, and you think, they have a story.”

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

CORRECTION: October 27, 2016, at 8:30 p.m.

A previous version of this article incorrectly stated that Kristina N. Neal ’19 was a producer, not an assistant director, and that she was in the class of 2018. It also misspelled the name of Enosa J. Ogbeide ’20.