Notre Dame students’ production of From The Wreckage makes debut on professional theatre stage

By NAFISAT ALAO

What began as a single scene in a modest school play project soon became an ambitious production as former Notre Dame Catholic High School students and their supportive teacher poured their creativity into a performance that recently debuted at the Factory Theatre.

Eloise Harrington is a lyricist, composer, writer, playwright and all-around performer who plays one of the lead characters Alice in the play. Her musical style transcends genres and generations.

Hiyab Araya is a Toronto-based performer who has extensive experience in Toronto professional theatre. She is a music contributor and performer who plays another lead character Noa in the show.

According to them, this play had only just begun as a school project they were working on.

“It started very small and we realized pretty quickly that it was bigger than whatever we had been working on for school and that it deserved to have a chance in the professional theatre sphere,” said Harrington.

The play, titled From the Wreckage is a concert/theatre hybrid production that talks through how young women reclaim the revolutionary soul force that is rock and roll and explores and dives into the challenges and structures that muffle diverse Queer voices and amplify the complex and interwoven stories of women.

The production came to life when Sara Pedrosa, a Notre Dame artist educator, writer, producer, and performer, asked her students to create a feel-good musical. Harrington and Araya were both 16 years old at the time and are 18 years old now.

While reflecting on their experiences as former high school students, Harrington and Araya discussed how easily those experiences were incorporated into the play’s narrative and the characters as they were writing it.

“The play is about high school students, similar to the one that Hiyab and I went to so that definitely lended to the experiences of the characters as we were building them and (the play) is talking about the trials of Catholic school… it’s written for young people but also directly from the experiences of young people,” said Harrington.

“When I’m watching mass media or performances that are supposed to appeal to the youth, I don’t see much of it. Maybe when it is being portrayed it’s not accurate in any way and I think this production is really raw and vulnerable and you don’t find it anywhere,” said Araya.

The play’s title was developed near the end of the writing process and was inspired by a line from the main character, Alice. During the final scene, Alice says: “And there from the wreckage, something new,” which ultimately became the title.

“It took us so long to figure out a title, most times the title comes really quickly but this was not the case at all,” said Harrington.

Looking back, they noted that their experiences working and collaborating on the play outweighed how far it has come.

“For me I’m not looking at the scope of success I was just happy to be there and connect with people who have such creative minds … It’s empowering to see that we are capable of such amazing work,” said Araya.

“I’m just so proud of us for taking this little thing and knowing the whole time that it could be good and then bringing it to a level we knew it could get to,” added Harrington.

Harrington, Araya, and Pedrosa each expressed their hopes for what the audience will take away from the play. They stated that they aspire for viewers to gain a deeper understanding of the growth, pain, and transformation that occurs as individuals shape their identities.

A few challenges they mentioned they faced in bringing this production to life, included a lack of previous experience with professional productions for some and the scarcity of rehearsal spaces in the city.

“We don’t have experience as a youth collective and it’s hard to get people to believe in a story that is created by people whose stories you’ve never seen before when there’s no frame of reference,” said Harrington.

In addition, Pedrosa stated, “the resources available for artists in the east end versus the west end, there is just so much more available to people in the west and that has been a struggle.”

Creating the production was most rewarding for them because they were able to be part of something special and collaborate with other people for the first time.

“It opened up a new experience for me. I wasn’t really into the world of rock and all of the art and artists, but collaborating with them broadened my experience with music … its rewarding because sometimes we are very closed-minded towards art and what we identify in it but I did not regret it,” said Araya.

In all, Pedrosa said that her hopes looking forward are that “I hope it encourages people to take more chances on young people because they can be awesome.”

From the Wreckage’s latest version of the text and soundtrack was performed on July 26 and 27 at the Factory Theatre in Toronto. For more information on the production, please visit the website at http://www.fromthewreckage.com/