Stage Review - How to Break (Village Theatre)

Stage Review - How to Break (World Premiere)
Presented By: Village Theatre - Issaquah, WA
Date Reviewed: Saturday, April 22, 2023
Reviewed By: Greg Heilman

Traveling throughout the Puget Sound region, I’ve had the opportunity to visit a decent amount of theaters and take in shows that run the gamut from the familiar to the obscure, musicals and plays, dramas, and comedies, shows that have been on Broadway, and others created right here in our backyard. When I come across a Seattle premiere of a show that is workshopped, cast, and produced locally, it reminds me how fertile the creative ground is in the area. There is also no shortage of homes for these shows locally, excellent theaters of every imaginable shape and size in which playwrights can produce their works. This past Saturday, I had the good fortune of heading to Issaquah, and Village Theatre, to see their latest production How to Break. This creative piece of art, workshopped down the street at the Village’s Hunt Theatre and now on their main stage through April 30, is a layered look at a broken healthcare system that is anything but fair as told through the lens of childhood illness. It’s a musical that employs a number of different styles of music, dance, and language to tell the story of Ana, a teenager battling Leukemia, her friend Joel facing down sickle cell disease, and their battles on two fronts with their diseases as well as the American health care system. Once How to Break finishes its run in Issaquah, it will be heading to Everett for a run beginning May 5 and wrapping up May 28.

How to Break is a layered piece that takes a lot on for its two hour run time (with no intermission). On the surface, yes, it deals with two teenagers, each of their hopes sidelined by pretty serious unfavorable medical diagnoses. The plot follows each of their paths, starting with Ana’s cancer diagnosis and picking up Joel’s battle with sickle cell already in progress, so to speak. Ana, played here by Cheryse Dyllan, is a pop dancer with her eyes on the $5,000 first place prize in an upcoming dance competition, while Joel (Cristian Rodriguez) is more inclined toward break dancing. Both with different backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives, but both facing down similar demons. Each character in How to Break is defined in some way by a style of music and dance, or by language. Joel, being defined by his break dancing, tries to convince Ana that if she learns ‘how to break’ that she’ll develop a new perspective toward her battle. While How to Break is about one character learning to break dance, it’s pretty clear that it’s about more than just that. It’s also about learning to break down the walls of culture and language through communication, and perhaps most importantly about breaking down or breaking through a health care system that doesn’t treat everyone equally. There’s a lot of heavy stuff in How to Break, and be warned the last forty five minutes of this show hits hard, but the message is timely and true, the production is thoughtfully designed, and it is delivered beautifully.

Each character, as I mentioned, is represented by a type of music, or in actuality a language. Beyond Ana and Joel, the members of the staff at the hospital where the teenagers are being treated are each just as unique. Talia Thiesfield’s Dr. Aden, the specialist responsible for Ana and Joel’s treatment plans, speaks in the language of medicine, while musically she is a little more aligned with a classic musical theatre style of delivery. Don’t get me wrong, when she’s called upon to sing in another style during the show, she’s more than capable, but Dr. Aden is the more stoic of the characters. Her deviation from that, when it does happen, belies a past that gives her some perspective into Ana and Joel’s multi-front battle. Nurse Bowen is played by John Kent Rickenbacker, Jr., and speaks only in beat box. Without seeing How to Break, it might not be clear how someone speaking strictly in beat box can be understood, but that’s just the thing with this show and these performances. The show is designed so that when the actors perform, regardless of whether or not the audience explicitly recognizes what the characters are saying, there is still a level of understanding. And these actors are so good, it’s quite clear, their thoughts, emotions, all of it comes through, even though the words or sounds are indiscernible. A prime example is a scene late in the show, a scene so emotional and impactful, that the impact on the audience is palpable, but it’s also one in which not a word of English is spoken.

Also on the hospital staff is Maddy, played by Olivia Griffin. Maddy is a counselor at the hospital, and runs a therapy session based on music and speaks through the language of folk. Olivia is an extremely talented actor, singer, and musician, accompanying her own singing as well as the ensemble during musical numbers. It’s quite entertaining, especially when the group performs together, Olivia’s guitar keeping rhythm to John’s beat boxing, both supporting Cristian’s rapping or Cheryse’s soulful hip hop. Musically, as well as topically, How to Break is a wonderfully complex and layered production. Rounding out the cast is Andrés López-Alicea as Mr. Ramos, Ana’s father. Mr. Ramos comes with his own pain, having already lost his wife and left to raise Ana and her brother alone. His pain is exacerbated by the fact that his helplessness in trying to help his daughter. While he speaks predominantly in Spanish, in a feat of design and performance, it’s quite clear what Mr. Ramos is saying or how he is feeling, despite the fact that he’s speaking a language not everyone understands.

All of the performances, acting, singing, dance, are first rate. Cheryse features quite a bit, after all it is Ana’s story. A true triple threat, she plays the character with as much hope as she can muster given the circumstance, fights against the dying of that hope, dots her performance with the full complement of grief stages, acceptance, bargaining, and anger, supporting that with a fantastic singing voice and a prodigious skill in dance, from popping to modern, and any number of styles in between. Cristian’s break dancing is phenomenal, each turn earning rousing applause from the audience, and his rapping is excellent. His portrayal of Joel has a little more anger and bitterness than Cheryse’s Ana, which makes sense considering the context. Sickle Cell gets far less attention than cancer in the American health care system, so Joel has found himself swimming upstream from the start. There’s a resignation in his character as a result, an attitude that is realistic about what has befallen him and what his odds are, one that drives him to make as much of his time as he can. Andrés’ Mr. Lopez is feeling the impact of another aspect of the American health care system that is far too common, affordability, or more precisely a lack thereof. Working two jobs is still not enough to pay for the treatment that his daughter needs, and the conflict, the helplessness, is present in everything that Mr. Ramos does or says, regardless of what actual language it’s said in. Maddy’s struggle, meanwhile, is with her own mental health. While she is concerned with the well being of the patients, she’s left to wonder whom is looking out for her own mental health. Olivia plays this struggle well, it’s something that is masked at the outset, but slowly bleeds through as her character arc progresses. The soft edges harden as she attempts to keep herself together, which she feels she’s left to do on her own.

How to Break has everything going for it. It’s a wonderfully constructed story that tackles a number of issues that get talked about a lot, but not discussed enough. Playwright Aaron Jefferis (book and lyrics) has produced a piece of art that is timeless in its story, modern in its presentation, and relatable to all. It may hit harder for those of us who have dealt with cancer or have had loved ones touched by it, but it’s the lucky few who have breezed through life without being hampered by a healthcare system that prioritizes some over others for some reason or other. And as long as there’s been a society here in America, there have been teenagers learning how to cope with obstacles, some insurmountable, and there have been groups of disparate people searching for common ground when there’s a language or cultural divide. Aaron has assembled this puzzle in the best possible way. Add to that the music by Jacinth Greywoode, Rebecca Hart, and Yako 440, along with dance from choreographer Kevin Boseman, and what results is a story that runs dark at times told in a modern and energetic way. It’s easy to get lost in the performances, they’re so good, but the messaging still comes through, loud and clear. Almost as if the walls of culture and language have been broken down by, music and dance.

Village Theatre’s production of How to Break is directed by Logan Vaughn, and full marks to her for presenting such a show as well as she has, and for assembling a creative team that excels from top to bottom, including the production’s scenic design from Jack Magaw, lighting by Robert J. Aguilar, and costumes by Pete Rush, plus Andrea Allmond on sound design. Together they have created a show that is paced wonderfully, quick when it needs to be, slower when it wants something to sink in, and never feels like it takes the two hours that it does. Sets are generally minimal, it’s predominantly set in a hospital room, so other than a couple beds and a combination nursing cart, beat box station, there’s not much in the way of set pieces that hinder the pace of the show or otherwise take attention away from the actors and the story. The show makes good use of Village Theatre’s turntable for movement and employs creative projections designed by Elizabeth Barrett. It’s a pretty complete package.

It’s not every day that a new show comes along and exists in that rarified air where entertainment and importance coexist. How to Break is there, though, a stunningly entertaining show, with excellent acting, music and dance, and at the same time tackling cultural divides and the American healthcare system. True, it doesn’t solve the problems it addresses, but How to Break does demand that we use the energy generated from it to go out and make some real change. I highly recommend How to Break, and though it only runs for one more weekend in Issaquah, it’s moving to Village Theatre’s Everett location for the month of May. Having an opportunity to see a premiere of a show so good is a privilege, and if you have the chance, I suggest you take advantage of that.

How to Break runs onstage at Village Theatre in Issaquah, WA through April 30 and in Everett beginning May 5 through May 28. For more information and tickets, visit https://villagetheatre.org/. Note that How to Break deals with some content, such as adolescent illness, death, and grief, that may not be suitable for younger patrons.

Photo credit - Angela Sterling