Where Words Once Were: A Dystopian Production

Frostburg State University’s Department of Theatre and Dance is raring to go for the two shows being presented this spring. After interviewing the cast and director of the first show of the semester, “Where Words Once Were” seems to be just the type of production to start the season off strong. 

“Where Words Once Where”, penned by Finegan Krukemeyer, features a world set during dystopian times where exactly 1,000 words are legal to say. The rest are forgotten over time and on rare occasions, a new word is added to the dictionary in the place of another. Those who disobey the rules laid by the government are forced into silence and can no longer be spoken to by others; the Silenced are rising, however, and refuse to be kept quiet. Orhan, son of All, the baker, and soon a suspect in Isaac’s, the official, investigation, unintentionally gets swept up into the tides of a revolution forming after taking a pen from school. 

After all, what better weapon to wield than a pen? It is quite mightier than a sword.

Kassidy Andris, Caleb Friend, and Grace Lacount started off the interviews. Kassidy explained the rehearsal process, and that the production is pretty short, only an hour long. The backbone of the production is “getting lines down because it’s a more interesting speaking type show. Because we have some interesting types of lines; it’s not Shakespeare, but it’s also not modern English-type speaking terms. So we’ve all been really trying to focus on our lines and making sure we’re not paraphrasing.” Grace followed up on Kassidy’s points on the way the lines are spoken, saying, “It’s like Kassidy said, the words are very important and every word has to be exact: it cannot be any paraphrasing.”

We asked members of the cast to give their own synopsis of the production and everyone’s answer was practically verbatim. All of them mentioned how eerily similar this dystopian production is compared to modern-day society due to the new Florida bill banning certain books. “I think the show not only spreads awareness about literature bans but I think also just the inability of some groups of people to be able to speak freely,” Caleb commented when I brought up the idea that “Where Words Once Were” deals with limited speech. “But I think also just the inability of some groups of people to be able to speak freely like they have the ability to but they feel like they cannot freely speak. I think this show really dives headfirst into what is the possibility of what might happen and I know most of us have had conversations with each other, the cast especially, that at first the show seems really far fetched but as you’re reading it for the 15th time, it becomes a point where it’s like, ‘Okay, now it’s becoming too real’.”

Kassidy followed up after Caleb, stating, “I think it’s sending out a message that society really needs to hear. I also think that the younger generation right now would be more impacted by watching it and really, they will grasp it a lot stronger than the older generation just because this is a possibility like Caleb said. This could happen in our society and government now and that is something that we need to, as the upcoming generations, really take a stance and be like, ‘Okay, well we know that this isn’t right, and if this is our possible future, we need to fix it and take action.’ Y’know, to come together as a society.”

When interviewing members of the cast, we inquired as to what audience members should be on the lookout for. Dominique Little said that people should be on the lookout for “two love stories intertwined and the amazing smell of bread that will be filling the theatre.” Whitney O’Haver stated that audience members should “think about what they (the characters) say to other people and the meaning behind what they’re saying and also how valuable it is to be able to say exactly what you want to say without having to put it through a filter where you can only say a thousand words.” 

Shea-Mikal Green, who is currently in the production “Angels In America Part 1: Millennium Approaches” at the Maryland Ensemble Theater in Frederick, is also the director for FSU’s ‘Where Words Once Were”. Though it may seem like a heavy load, she is up for the challenge. It is “a total gift,” she stated after being asked about how it is to work with the cast of “Where Words Once Were” while also acting in a separate theater. “Being able to do something I love in all capacities pretty much every minute of the day is something I never take for granted. It allows me to see the art from different perspectives all at once – as the director or as the actor.” Shea-Mikal also stated that when acting and directing at the same time, helps grow her work within the creative world that is theatre. 

This production is a one-weekend event only, so grab tickets while you can at https://frostburgtix.universitytickets.com/w/default.aspx?cid=169 or call the Theatre and Dance Box Office at 301.687.7462, M-F from 9am-3pm.

 Show dates include Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 7:30 pm on March 9th, 10th, and 11th, plus a matinee showing on Saturday at 2:00 pm.

Cast List: Elia – Grace Lacount, Orhan – Hayden Shoemaker-Davis, Kieran – Kassidy Andris, Ali – Whitney O’Haver, Issac – Brendon McCabe, Girl – Dominique Little, Teacher/Papa – Caleb Friend.