By Alan Jozwiak
When I was young, I would love staying up late on Friday evenings to watch all those old-time horror movies like The Fly, The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, and the original Godzilla. These films were staples of my youth and they would both thrill and terrify me.
Wanting to revisit these same movie monsters of yesteryear, playwright Trey Tatum has written Summer Slay-cation!, an homage to these cheesy B-horror monster movies. This play is receiving its World Premiere this weekend as part of Xavier University Theatre’s season.
Summer Slay-cation! is a Choose Your Own Adventure Script
One of the minds behind Queen City Flash, Tatum has composed a choose-your-own-adventure script where there are multiple pathways which the four teenage leads–Tyler, Audrey, Greer, and Kai–can take so as to battle (and hopefully defeat) the B-movie monsters stalking an abandoned drive-in movie theater in their hometown every time there is a full moon.
Building off their success in last year’s Fringe production (ready?) I’m Finally Going to Ask Elizabeth Hopkins to the Homecoming Dance and Nothing’s Going to Stop Me, Not Even the Ghost of My Dead Grandmother Who Watches Me Masturbate, Tatum and his director/spouse Bridget Leak use a computer program called Twine to project the possible script possibilities onto two screens for the actors to know which version they are playing.
Six members of the audience will get the task of figuring out different paths within the plot, choosing from what the four teenagers should investigate to cobbling together the titles of wildly imaginative B-monster movies. The end result is that there are 1.4 million versions of the play that could occur!
This can be a daunting prospect for any actor trying to memorize lines, especially because there are going to be some variations that the cast does not get a chance to rehearse for want of time. What actor has several decades to rehearse each permutation of this script?
Director Leak Focuses on Character Development
As such, director Bridget Leak emphasizes character development within each of the main leads and the supporting cast who make up the characters in the B-movie and supporting characters. It is from Leak’s able direction that the audience had a firm sense from each character as to who they are, what they want, and how they intend to get it. This is vital because the actors could be going any number of different places and need that grounding so that they don’t suffer character drift with every new scene.
Ensemble Cast
The cast of talented Xavier acting students–Mattie Cieplak, Tate Clemons, Raya Franklin, Nicole Grace, Emma Halloran, Luke Heetderks, Anna Meister, Richie Pokrywka, and Jayley Sams–do a great job hopping around with different permutations of the script and different B-movie monster films. (The digital program does not specify who is who.)
The actors are sometimes so intent on figuring out where they are in the script that they steamroll over great laugh lines and/or fail to connect with their fellow actors on stage. While this technology might be the wave of the future, present-day actors must still work on timing and listening, to fully mine an ever-changing script. ( Even the more seasoned actors of I’m Finally Going…had this issue.)
Despite these concerns, kudos for this cast for tackling a very challenging script and making it work. They can produce some very funny B-movie moments. The scene in one of the B-movies where flasks of brandy are constantly being passed around, is very funny. I also laughed at Audrey’s grandmother’s sexual confession to Tyler. The commitment of these actors to the script sells the show. I was satisfied with the ending of the script that I saw. I am confident this team will ensure every ending is satisfying.
Overall
The use of Twine is a distinct possibility for the theatre of tomorrow. You can see that future today by seeing this production. Despite some rough spots (and a AC unit that failed to work during the performance that I saw), Summer Slay-cation! is a must for anyone who enjoys 1950s B-movies and/or wants to support cutting-edge theater. This production might be not for a general audience, but might end up gaining a cult following like Rocky Horror.
Tickets to Summer Slay-cation!
Summer Slay-cation! is running now at in the Gallagher Student Center Studio Friday and Saturdays from March 28 to April 5, 2025 at 7:30 pm, with a 2 pm Saturday matinee. For tickets, click here.
