What Is Lost Will Be Found at The Blue Moon Theatre

by Deitra Oliver

Life and love will always find a way, even amid the darkest struggles, and that was my greatest takeaway from Where the Lost Children Play. Written by Hannah Lee Defrates and directed by Jim Cook Jr., with producers Cheryl and Joe Stark, the play is making its New Jersey debut at The Blue Moon Theatre. This new and exploratory play is a must-see event. Set in an unused fourth-floor stairwell - because why use the stairs when there is an elevator? - lies the secret world of Willowhaven. The stairwell becomes a refuge for five children living in a dystopian world ruled by The Blessed Order of the Contagion and the looming threat of chaos.  Through the lives of five lost children, the play explores how chosen family can become a source of safety, joy, and hope in a world designed to take those things away.

The play opens with a short film titled The Laundry Room, which serves as a prologue and introduces the audience to the world of Where the Lost Children Play.  I particularly appreciated the incorporation of film into the production, and this use of multimedia is threaded throughout the performance. Technical director Mike Russell seamlessly incorporated both film and projection into the production, allowing the world to be expanded beyond the boundaries of the stage. I was impressed by the utilization of lighting and sound to build emotional depth and highlight specific moments. I was particularly impressed by the shift in lighting and smoke to highlight the Minotaur. Ricky Thompson, working the spotlight, helped illuminate important moments in the show, particularly those that took place in the seating area of the theater.

In The Laundry Room, we are introduced to two rebels against The Order: Meadowlark, Mars Kel Meisel, and Caraway, Jett Meisel. The laundry room is significant to the rest of the show as it is known to the characters as a dangerous place, where those who oppose The Order are sent. Meadowlark and Caraway meet in the laundry room while they are held prisoner by the Plague Doctor.  Sam Williams makes the Plague Doctor an unsettling presence, using physicality to effectively convey the menace and malice of The Order. As they await their fates, Meadowlark and Caraway begin a doomed relationship that evolves from friendship to love within the confines of their captivity. Mars Kel Meisel delivers a strong performance, bringing both world-weariness and puckish humor to Meadowlark. Mars Kel Meisel skillfully balances the character’s resolution with an underlying resilience that makes their journey especially moving. Jett Meisel brings raw vulnerability to Caraway, making the character’s hope and heartbreak feel immediate and deeply personal. I was moved to tears by the performance. Despite their circumstances, Meadowlark and Caraway continue to live and love as they choose, escaping into their imaginations.

As the film closes, the omnipresent Timekeeper, Jim Cook Jr., picks up a book eponymously titled Where the Lost Children Play and begins to read. The Timekeeper looms over the play. The character serves as the narrator of the show, reading from the book and guiding the audience through the story. Cook Jr. maintains the impassive tone of a narrator while also expertly revealing glimpses of emotional investment and concern, creating an intriguing tension between detachment and involvement. The character drives the vignette-style structure of the show, leading the audience through pockets of memory as they are revealed onstage.

The story of the lost children opens with Willow, Lori Thompson, chained to a chair, echoing the opening film.  Entering from offstage in the audience is Poppy, Laren LaScala. Poppy reads a letter from Willow, whose words are spoken by Thompson. Through the opening letter, Thompson’s Willow, the self-proclaimed dreamer Peter Pan, and LaScala’s Poppy, the more realistic Wendy Darling, draw you into the world of Willow and Poppy, a place rich with imagination and love, tinged with regret, and residing in hope.  From this scene, we are taken to a defining moment in their shared past, as the Timekeeper reads from their story.

The stairwell, which has been present in the background, is suddenly brought to life through lighting, and the details become clear. The set design by Jim Cook Jr. is simple but effective, with a raised platform, a window, and a set of stairs. Covering the walls of the stairwell are pages from a book, a thoughtful touch given the characters’ love of stories. The window, designed by Grey Walsh and Emma Stark, provides the only glimpse of the outside world, and through it we see the silhouette of trees stretching into the horizon. On the windowsill sit a candle and a plant that changes throughout the show, reflecting the passage of time. Set construction was done by the team of Greg Hammell, master carpenter, Donna Halpin, Donna Laning, and Joe Stark. Set painting was done by Lauren LaScala, Cheryl Stark, and Jim Cook Jr. Stage manager Donna Laning keeps the many behind-the-scenes transitions running smoothly, an especially demanding task in a production that moves between the stage and the theater's seating areas.

In the stairwell, we watch the lives of the lost children unfold at an accelerated pace, allowing us to witness key moments from the years leading up to the opening scene. An important thing to note is that while the play takes you through the lives of the characters from the time they are quite young into adulthood, the characters are played by the same actors throughout. I found this to be a compelling choice. Keeping the same actors throughout allows the audience to recognize the continuity beneath the characters' changing ages and circumstances. Rather than feeling distracted by the casting choice, I found myself increasingly invested in watching each actor evolve their character over time. It was a humorous moment when each character was introduced along with their ages, and they were clearly adults. There were a few chuckles from the audience, but any initial uncertainty was quickly dispelled as the actors delivered believable and interesting performances.

At the center of The Council of Willowhaven are Willow (Thompson) and Poppy (LaScala). Thompson gives life to the magnetic and sometimes enigmatic Willow. Willow is the heart of the chosen family, drawing them together with her infectious energy, humor, and fierce protectiveness. She truly embodies her hero Peter Pan, another character who longs for and builds a found family. Thompson successfully carries Willow's defining charisma from childhood into adulthood, while allowing the character's growing responsibilities and losses to alter the way that charisma is expressed. As Poppy, LaScala serves as the counterpoint to Willow’s dreamer, bringing a seemingly more reality-based view of life, but that does not stop her from being drawn into Willow's ideas and dreams. LaScala brings an intensity to Poppy that is powerful and moving, rather than overstated. In one particularly emotional scene, their performance gave me goosebumps.

Together, Willow and Poppy work to provide a safe and free space for the younger children in their care. Daff (Benjamin Weidner) is Willow’s younger brother, and he is her responsibility after their parents abandon them to move to a higher level of the high-rise. Daff, like his sister, has a great sense of humor and drives the rest of the group crazy with his constant puns and dad jokes. He is also quite sensitive to those around him. Weidner uses physical comedy to complement Daff's constant stream of puns, giving the character an energy that keeps his humor from becoming one-dimensional. Violet (Cecilia Grassi) is Poppy’s younger sister and is always reading a new book, from The Little Prince to Charlotte’s Web. Violet is also quite knowledgeable for her age and frequently corrects the others when they say something inaccurate. Grassi gives Violet a convincing combination of precociousness and vulnerability, making her frequent corrections of the other characters feel like an extension of her personality rather than simply a source of comic relief. The final member of the Council of Willowhaven is Chrys (Stacy Bachman), a neighbor and friend who eventually loses her family to The Order. Bachman's performance relies heavily on what remains unspoken. Through subtle looks and movements, she communicates Chrys’s inner life.

Life progresses for The Council, and we watch them grow and change. We bear witness to the evolution of their relationships, their joys and struggles, their victories and their setbacks, and see some of them fall in love, all set against a dystopian backdrop. The threat of The Order always looms. We see the effects of it in their lives, from their career choices to where they live and who they associate with. Unknown horrors lurk behind every choice, and the threat of the laundry room always looms. It is home to the Minotaur (Harrison James), a flesh-eating beast out of a nightmare, and the promised consequence of any rebellion. James has no dialogue in this role but delivers a terrifying performance that will make your heart skip a beat with every pounding footstep.

Where the Lost Children Play, currently playing at The Blue Moon Theatre is a richly layered piece that delves into the intricacies of life and relationships, set in a stunningly imaginative world. The production runs through Sunday, July 26, with performances Friday and Saturday at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. This story is brought to life with an immersive production that includes scenes taking place in different areas of the theater. At its heart, this is a story about the families we choose, the joy we fight to preserve, and the hope we carry even when the world around us seems determined to take it away. I highly recommend seeing this show if you have the opportunity. As the characters say in the play: “Merde. And this was good.”

Tickets can be purchased at https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/where-the-lost-children-play

***They/Them pronouns are used throughout this article to avoid potential misgendering of actors referenced. Characters are referenced using traditional gender roles as described in the original work.