Photo courtesy of Morning Star Productions
During this Age of Pandemic, theater has been mostly relegated to streaming and live streaming performances. That is, until Morning Star Productions came up with a new “venue” where social distancing is a natural part of the landscape. Outdoors.
MSP founder/director/actor Alan Atwood has written the audience-participation drama, Double Cross inspired by the historical fiction book, Number the Stars by Lois Lowry. The plot involves a young Jewish woman, Sophie, who’s kidnapped by the Nazis during World War II to force her nuclear scientist father into working with them. He has so far, refused and has secret information. Sophie is being held at a remote Nazi outpost.
The audience members’ mission (should they decide to accept it) is to join the resistance movement and collect clues along various trails that will lead them to Sophie. Atwood has included actual historical figures who have bits of information, such as French entertainer and resistance agent Josephine Baker; Corrie ten Boom, who helped Jews escape from the Nazis; and Colonel David Stirling, among others.
“We then set up various obstacles for [audience groups],” explains Atwood. “They must decode messages, determine who they can trust and who they can't and be courageous enough to try to elude German soldiers. All of this makes for a really fun time for people of all ages and also immerses the audience in the historical world.”
The cast of 22 remain in close range to the audience groups and there are also “course managers” in costume to supervise and assist with the production. The wooded setting for Double Cross is literally uncharted terrain, making it all the more realistic. “We made trails through the woods and then stationed actors—each playing a different character—at intervals along the trail,” Atwood points out. “We even constructed two small buildings. One of them is a French cafe circa 1942, the other a barn where German soldiers have set up a radio post and are holding ‘Little Red’—the girl’s code name—hostage.”
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As social distancing is a key part of life today, the production allows for plenty of that along with hand sanitizer stations. The only indoors aspect are the restrooms. “We offer the audience the chance to have their own private group by calling ahead…We’ve put colored stakes in the ground at each stopping place along the trail to encourage people to stand apart from each other,” he emphasizes. “We have also planned for the audience to be outdoors for the whole experience. Since audience groups are limited to 10 and each new group starts the course every 10 minutes, there is no need for people to be in large groups.”
And that’s an important part of the resistance movement—small groups moving through “uncharted territory” looking for clues while battling the forces of darkness.
“G.K. Chesterton [writer and theologian] said once that ‘The finding and fighting of positive evil is the beginning of all fun.’ Our audiences last fall had a blast fighting the evil of the Nazi regime,” Atwood says, adding, “It's kind of a living history game.”
Double Cross runs through June 28 on the wooded trail behind Wooded Hills Church, 777 Hwy 164, Colgate. Trail Difficulty Level is Easy/Moderate but is not wheelchair accessible. Appropriate for ages eight and older. Fathers and grandfathers receive free admission on Father’s Day, Sunday, June 21. For more information, email: themorningstartheater@gmail.com, visit: http://www.morningstarproductions.org/double-cross.html or call: 414-228-5220, ext. 119.
