By Katherine Hatcher | Staff Writer
Summertime is coming to a close. Before it ends, though, the Baylor Theatre Department is putting on “The Grown-Ups,” a production where the viewer can enter the world of Camp Indigo Woods.
At 7:30 p.m. on the night of Sept. 18, join a group of camp counselors in this darkly comedic play as they try their best to mold the leaders of tomorrow, even as tomorrow begins to look more and more bleak. The play is set at a sleepaway camp, and the action takes place outdoors around a fire in a backyard in Brooklyn, N.Y.
According to Baylor Theatre’s website, the play explores the traditions that change people, what it takes for people to change them and how to change oneself when not prepared for change.
Director Lisa Denman called the play is funny, thought-provoking and hopeful. The play was written and originally performed right after the COVID-19 epidemic started to die down, so Denman said that many people can probably resonate with the themes in the play as they try to grow up or remember what it was like to grow up.
“It’s dealing with a lot of the thoughts and questions that we are currently dealing with about isolation, polarization and what it means to take responsibility for ourselves and for each other,” the director said.
Bryan senior Aaliyah Carter, who plays the role of Cassie, the new camp counselor at Camp Indigo Woods, said that the plot will resonate with college students because it is about who can make a change in the world and how they go about that change.
“These counselors are trying to be good role models the only way they know how, while simultaneously trying to stay true to what they know, whether it’s the right way or not,” Carter said. “Our generation is one that is still fighting for its place in this world and fighting to prove we can handle more than given credit for.”
Lindale senior Sonny Mauldin, who plays Lukas, also said that the show will resonate with people and impact them in positive ways — if they let it.
“It is a very unique show,” Mauldin said. “It’s really beautiful to see how impactful theater can be at its most simple form. No magic, no music. Just actors, emotions and a campfire.”
Carter said people should come see the play because it is nice to ponder at what point people become the grown-ups.
“This play is unlike one we’ve done here at Baylor and my hope is people leave feeling empowered and ready to take up the space we’re each given in this world,” Carter said.
The play will continue through Sept. 21 with performances at 7:30 p.m. every night. , There will be a performance at 2 p.m. on Sept. 22. Tickets for performances are $20 and can be purchased online on Baylor Theatre’s website. All performances will be held in theater 11 of the Hooper-Schaefer Fine Arts Center.
