The Growing Stage's Boogieman Isn't Such a Bad Guy
What if the Boogieman brings children nightmares to help them? That's the idea behind playwright Angelle Whavers' new show for young audiences, "Boogie," now playing at The Growing Stage — the Children's Theatre of New Jersey. Join Maddie onsite in Netcong as she talks to the cast and creatives behind this world premiere.
Transcript:
[MUSIC]
MADDIE ORTON: Hi, I’m Maddie Orton for JerseyArts.com, and I’m here at The Growing Stage for the world premiere of “Boogie”–a new play about a very old, and very scary character: The Boogieman.
BOOGIE: I’m pretty new at Boogie-ing.
ALEX: What? But the Boogieman story has been around forever.
BOOGIE: Yeah, but the Boogieman changes every few hundred years. It’s a tough job giving kids nightmares.
MADDIE: Playwright Angelle Whavers got the idea for her story while watching Dreamworks’ “Rise of the Guardians”–a film that features a particularly mean boogieman. And it made her wonder: “What if the Boogieman wasn’t so bad after all? Maybe he has a reason for bringing kids bad dreams.”
BOOGIE: Yeah! And I check on you, too, to see when you need a nightmare!
ALEX: I don’t need one though!
BOOGIE: You do.
ALEX: Ugh.
ANGELLE WHAVERS: I was easily afraid of everything as a kid, and Boogieman was one of them, and I thought, ‘Why don’t I make Boogieman the good guy? He’s coming in the middle of the night, he’s visiting me, he’s saying ‘Hi,’ so why don’t I say ‘Hi’ back?’
MADDIE: Whavers wrote “Boogie” – a story for young audiences in which 12-year-old has just moved to Florida with her father after surviving a car crash that killed her mother. Alex is understandably going through a hard time: she and her dad are in mourning, she needs to make friends at her new school, and a recurring nightmare is preventing her from getting a good night’s sleep.
Alex learns that the source of her nightmare is the bumbling and loveable Boogie–a nightly visitor straight out of Boogie University with a big heart and a tough job.
BOOGIE: Come on! It’s like my one job!
ALEX: I’m not going to let you scare me.
BOOGIE: Oh, really? Then how about some of this? Alright, Boogie, just like we practiced! Time to get scary!
MADDIE: Whavers’s Boogie brings nightmares to kids to help them identify and work through their fears. Alex must face her recurring dream head-on to end it. But the purpose of the play is not to applaud bravery, it’s to accept the existence of fear. After all, as Whavers points out, you can’t have one without the other.
ANGELLE: I wanted Alex to be able to face that ‘I am afraid, and that’s ok.’ Because sometimes that’s the bravest thing you can do is say, ‘I’m afraid.’ It’s easy to be like, ‘I’m not afraid! But please hold me back…’ But it’s harder to say, ‘I’m afraid, but I need to move forward.’ That’s one of the scariest things for children, adults, everyone.
BOOGIE: Being afraid doesn’t make you weak!
ALEX: Then I am scared! I’m scared.
MADDIE: Whavers’ “Boogie” script won The Growing Stage’s 2020 New Play-Reading Festival, which earned it a slot in the company’s theatrical season. Growing Stage Founder and Executive Director Stephen Fredericks says developing new plays for young audiences is a priority for the organization.
STEPHEN FREDERICKS: There are a lot of professional theaters around the country that do works and new play readings for adult-driven pieces, but very rarely are there any specifically for young audiences. And we’ve always felt that part of our mission was to develop the audience of tomorrow. So we felt that, if that’s the case, then this is an important aspect of that work–to cultivate and to develop new works.
MADDIE: “Boogie’s” production was delayed by the pandemic. And although the show was written before COVID-19 was a thought in anyone’s mind, the play’s exploration of fear has taken on new meaning.
Sasha Nelson and Na’jee Tariq play “Alex” and “Boogie”.
SASHA NELSON: This is such an overwhelming time, especially for kids, and I feel like there are multiple different people and perspectives that are going on and saying, ‘Oh yeah, you should be scared’ or ‘you shouldn’t be scared’, and I think that this is normalizing those feelings. Like, if you are scared, that’s okay. If you’re not, that’s okay too.
NA’JEE TARIQ: It’s okay to be afraid, it’s okay to step into the unknown, it’s okay not to have all the answers… Working through that fear is what leads you to bravery… I think that’s a powerful message–not only for kids, but adults because we are still working on things too.
DAD: Alex, losing your mom crushed me, but I’m unbelievably happy that I still have you.
MADDIE: Whatever an audience members’ fears are, Angelle hopes her play provides a helpful message.
ANGELLE: There are a lot of things in life that are like–you know, as a kid, it’s like the monster under your bed, and now for everyone–child, parent, everyone–there is something that we’re all afraid of. And some of us are afraid to say it–that we’re afraid. And I hope that people can learn from this, like, it’s okay. We all are facing this together.
ALEX: I can’t do it by myself, and I don’t want to do it by myself. I’d feel much better if I had a friend there with me.
MADDIE: “Boogie” runs through February 27th, and you can get more information at GrowingStage.com. I’m Maddie Orton, thanks for watching.
