A Wrinkle in Time Closes Out Wheelock Family Theatre’s 2023–2024 Season
A Wrinkle in Time Closes Out Wheelock Family Theatre’s 2023–2024 Season
Theatrical adaptation of Madeleine L’Engle’s classic YA fantasy novel runs through May 11
Eviva Rose (left) as Charles Wallace Murry, Beza Mekonnen as Meg Murry, and Miles Allen as Meg’s friend Calvin in a scene from Wheelock Family Theatre’s production of A Wrinkle In Time, which runs through May 11. Photos by Jake Belcher
This article was originally published in BU Today on April 11, 2024. By John O’Rourke. Photos by Jake Belcher.
It is hard to overstate the impact Madeleine L’Engle’s novel A Wrinkle in Time has had since it was published in 1962. The story, which pits 13-year-old Meg Murray against evil forces that have kidnapped her father to a distant planet, transformed young adult (YA) fiction. It was one of the first books for young readers featuring a female heroine in a science fantasy setting, and its themes of magic, divinity, faith, and the battle between good and evil presaged the arrival decades later of YA books by Percy Jackson and J. K. Rowlings, among others.
L’Engle’s book won the respected Newbery Award and has gone on to sell more than 10 million copies. It’s been adapted for stage, television, opera, and film, most recently a 2018 movie that features Oprah Winfrey, Mindy Kaling, and Reese Witherspoon.
So perhaps it’s no surprise that Wheelock Family Theatre (WFT) has chosen to close out its 2023-2024 season with A Wrinkle in Time, in an adaptation by John Glore, with a cast of six actors playing a dozen roles.
Nick Vargas, WFT interim artistic director and associate education director, says the story’s themes—the struggle for good over evil, the ability to overcome and embrace one’s faults, courage in the face of adversity—make it a perfect fit for Wheelock’s audiences.
“It’s one of those timeless books that celebrate young people as the heroes of their own stories,” Vargas says. “Meg finds her strength in her own faults, serving as an example for the young, and young at heart, in our audiences to embrace and find strength in their uniqueness. When we were reading John Glore’s adaptation, there was an excitement about how he embraces the theatricality of the storytelling, allowing us to bring this interstellar piece to life on our stage.”
It’s one of those timeless books that celebrate young people as the heroes of their own stories.
Leading that effort is director Regine Vital (CAS’07), an associate producer at Actors’ Shakespeare Project and an actor, storyteller, and educator. Vital jumped at the chance to direct L’Engle’s story for the stage, and says she still has the dog-eared copy of the book she first read as a nine-year-old.
“It’s a book about science, but also magic,” she says. “And there’s no need to differentiate. You can exist in these multiple possibilities of being and thinking and doing…and the book treats children as the smart people they are.
“Most of the books I was reading, it was the boys who were getting to do fun things. And here was Meg going off on this super celestial adventure with her little brother and a good friend.”
Vital says young audiences will be drawn to the character of Meg because she isn’t perfect. “She’s odd, she’s different, she’s navigating all of this external pressure and has to find a way to be okay with who she is. Even though she doesn’t know how to articulate her emotions, she’s quite intelligent emotionally, and brave.”
Children and teenagers will also connect with the emotional transformation Meg undergoes, Vital says. “She grows up and she blossoms and in the process of doing so, she receives some weird understanding about the universe and how we exist, yes, as separate entities, as individuals, but also in community with the universe.”
When it came to casting, Vital looked for an actor who could convincingly convey Meg’s fierce passion and strength. She found it in Beza Mekonnen, a high school senior at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, with whom she had worked before.
“She came into the auditions and she just nailed it,” Vital says. “Something happens when she performs, it’s all truth and all presence. It’s all there and real and immediate.”
Mekonnen says she’s enjoyed finding her way into the role. “Meg is someone who experiences her emotions very deeply,” she says. “She thinks that’s her weakness, but as the story progresses, she learns that no, this is something she can use…she realizes that love and her relationships are what’s going to help her achieve her goal [getting her father back] and defeat anything that tries to stand against her.”
To convey the magic and mysticism implicit in L’Engle’s story, Vital has relied heavily on a design team led by BU faculty and alums: veteran scenic designer Jon Savage, a College of Fine Arts assistant professor of scene design, lighting designer Isaak Olson (CFA’23), and costume designer Nia Safarr Banks (CFA’23).
For Savage, A Wrinkle in Time marks his first time working with Wheelock Family Theatre. He was drawn to the project in part because it marked a departure from his previous design work. “It’s challenging to do children’s theater, as the design elements need to engage younger audiences,” he says, noting that the team used the rehearsal period to recreate and fine-tune projection elements.
A Wrinkle in Time runs weekends through May 11 at the Wheelock Family Theatre, 180 Riverway, Boston. Ticket prices range from $24 to $48. BU students, faculty, and staff are invited free of charge opening weekend (to reserve your ticket, use code “BUOpen”). BU students can purchase $12 tickets to any performance using the code “College.” Faculty and staff receive a 25 percent discount off a full price ticket with code “BUStaff.” Purchase tickets here, call 617-353-3001, or email WFTtix@bu.edu. ASL and AD performances are Thursday, May 2, at 6 pm, Thursday, May 9, at 10:30 am, and Saturday, May 11, at 2 pm. The production is recommended for audiences 9+.