The Grown-Ups Whimsically Lacks Production Maturity

In all our lives, there comes a frightful day when catastrophe strikes. We look around the room to find support from the nearest adult or superior, as we have always done, but when we do, we realize with great suddenness: Oh no. We are the adults in the room. 

The Grown-Ups, written by Simon Henriquez and Skylar Fox and originally devised by Nightdrive, took its humble place as Dacha Theatre’s third mainstage show of their season. It toured parks and campfires in and around the Seattle area, bringing its nostalgic story to a widespread public. 

Beth Pollack as Cassie, Zoë Carr as Becca, Jasmine Flora as Maeve, Logan West as Lukas, and Levi Redmill as Aidan in The Grown-Ups.

Brett Love, Courtesy of Dacha

The show followed a group of camp counselors—the small few who returned after changes were made to their beloved camp to make it more inclusive. Together, they faced the growing pains of change and the heavy burden of leading the young campers through the hardships they faced in the tumultuous process of growing up. All the while, a meme akin to that of the dress (was it white and gold or black and blue?) launched through the world outside the camp and exploded into a violent war of beliefs between the common public, who saw one thing, and the Truth Squad, who saw another. 

As the world outside fell to pieces, the counselors were met with the challenge of figuring out how to best protect and prepare the children within the camp against the encroaching threat outside it. It was a fictitious tale which eerily reflected the current political climate, asking audiences to look at the situation through a comical, alternative lens, and find their own truths and understandings within it.

Dacha, in all its shows, seeks to give audiences the opportunity to face the problems of their own lives in a playful and vulnerable environment via performance, where the characters are a step away from reality and are therefore easier to digest. In that pursuit, The Grown-Ups proved an excellent inclusion to their season. As Director Nick O’Leary said in an interview, “We are all being asked to grow up over and over.” This play breaks down that challenge and deconstructs it into easier, more manageable bits. That said, I felt it was the weakest show of the season so far. 

The writing held an amateur quality in parts. Monologues waxed on too long while little to no action or importance upheld the momentum of the play. Metaphors were on the nose and cheesy, dialogue was—for lack of a better term—campy, and while perhaps intentional, largely discredited the serious aspects of the play. It was often over-projected and over-performed, which felt jarring in such an intimate theatrical space. 

While the overall plot did well with weaving together the small pieces of the story, preparing the audiences bit by bit for the later reveals and carrying themes start to finish with sound fluidity, the character arcs within the plot struggled some. 

The strongest character, whose arc followed the overarching theme of the narrative, was Aidan (Levi Redmill). His character began the play as a newly appointed leader who was desperately afraid of committing to any decisions and could not find the line between friend and boss. In the end, he stepped into his role and managed to make some of the hardest, most mature choices in the play. It showcased the theme of growing up and what it looks like when no one is there to take the burden of leadership from your shoulders. 

Logan West as Lukas, Zoë Carr as Becca, Jasmine Flora as Maeve, and Beth Pollack as Cassie in The Grown-Ups.

Brett Love, Courtesy of Dacha

The remaining character arcs bore meaningful messages, but often felt disconnected from the main plot. Cassie (played by Beth Pollack) faced the challenge of finding belonging and self acceptance in an environment where she had been excluded since childhood. Lukas (played by Logan West) navigated a strange recurring dream about a prophecy which could never be read, deciding in the end to carve the path of his own fate instead of waiting for it to be decided for him. Becca (played by Zoë Carr) found understanding and empathy for feuds long festered, and Maeve (played by Jasmine Flora) achieved self-confidence in her own ideas without needing the overzealous approval of others. All encompassed some element of growing up, but in execution, often felt thrown in as random asides to break up the story, giving the character arcs less impact than they could have had.

Scenes likewise were disconnected, leaping from one to another with swift transitions which struck after lines that held no finality and did not let silence settle long enough for the scene endings to truly resonate.

Where the show thrived, however, was in its production value and site specific location. From unique prop elements to the special effects, Production Designer Porter Lance’s creativity shined. Each element was enhanced by the show’s outdoor performance space.

Audiences huddled around the enclosed campfire, where the actors set their stage, illuminated softly by the flickering glow of the fire and strings of fairy lights stretched overhead. Speakers surrounding the theatrical space provided audio cues throughout the performance, and the park setting tied it all together. Trees stood as tall imposing shadows on the outskirts of the performance, wind rustled clothing and hair, and with impeccably fitting timing, an airplane flew overhead during the dramatic thesis speech of the show, which addressed the audience with a timely monologue that brought them into the world of the play and asked them to be vulnerable where the script otherwise rarely called for it. 

With all this, it accomplished what Dacha Theatre has often sought. It became a performance that could only happen in a theatrical environment. In any other medium, the story would have lost much of the effect the live and intimate performance provided. 

The show as a whole was enjoyable and struck many an emotional chord, asking audiences to not only reflect upon the growing pains of their own lives, but also those of society at large as the world changes and grows scarier each day. As always, I am eager to see what Dacha brings next.