Love Bites
The play is the seventh annual production by the troupe, which was founded in order to “provide kids with a fun, educational theater experience that could also contribute to improving the lives of those less fortunate,” according to its website. All proceeds from the annual Trumbull production go directly to the Zienzele Foundation — a Vermont-based organization that supports HIV/AIDS orphans in Zimbabwe.
The ingenious script was penned by Picoult — author of bestselling books including “My Sister’s Keeper” (2004) and “Nineteen Minutes” (2008) — with help from her teenage son Jake van Leer and longtime friend Ellen Wilber, an Enfield, N.H., middle school teacher who serves as both composer and musical director for the show. The playwrights have embellished the “Love at First Bite” script with some tactful local humor, adding a personalized charm to the show. The audience at the Wednesday night dress rehearsal was audibly amused by painfully accurate Hanover one-liners such as, “It’s like a parking lot outside of Lou’s — something you hear about but never actually experience.”
Both Picoult and her son are also involved in the production in other capacities. Picoult co-directs the show with Alex Lovejoy, while Van Leer gives a standout performance as the misunderstood new kid, a vampire named Drake who falls in love with — and, initially, tries to hide his identity from — the notorious local “good girl,” Lucy. Thankfully, rather than taking a strictly serious approach to the couple’s ill-fated romance, Van Leer and his mother lighten the mood with ample puns (Bud light becomes “Blood Light,” for example; and congratulations, “coagulations”) and by mocking the Twilight franchise. Lucy, played demurely by Kyra Sanborn, strips her blouse unexpectedly in the second act to reveal a “Team Drake” shirt underneath, for example.
This may sound like too much, but excess is essentially the purpose of the show. “Love at First Bite” is not a tale of torrid romance or a sophisticated comedy, but an exaggerated farce. Slapstick and tongue-in-cheek pop culture references lend the play its charm. Besides, I’d argue that where “Twilight” is concerned, nothing can really be too much. Just watch one of the movies.
Although performed entirely by local middle and high school students, the show is impressively professional. Costumes and sets are elaborate affairs, evoking an appropriately outlandish high school universe. In the principal’s office, for example, a hand emerges from beneath the desk to deliver messages and office supplies. Similarly, Drake’s “Addams Family”-esque parents use a “skeleton table,” rolled on- and off-stage by a cast member whose legs are visible but upper body is concealed, to deliver their meals.
Aside from technical innovations, the young actors deliver impressive performances. Van Leer and Sanborn have the standout voices in the show, collaborating in several harmonious duets. Molly Winer also gives an excellent performance as Ms. Stake, the belligerent school principal. With an acid tongue and a sincere aversion to Drake’s excessive use of hair gel, Ms. Stake is essentially (and intentionally, I’m fairly certain) Sue Sylvester from “Glee.” Instead of hating the high school glee club, however, Ms. Stake is determined to rid her school of vampires. And she’s traded in Sue’s trademark track suit for slightly classier business attire. Regardless, Ms. Stake is an exceedingly well-written character, played with panache by Winer.
The rest of the characters in the large cast are equally imaginatively rendered and performed. From ditzy head cheerleader Britney to the large green exchange student (Frank N. Stein), the show is chock-full of fun and memorable characters. Even minor characters, such as Chrissy, the dumbest cheerleader on the squad, are drawn in great detail.
The show’s success is not surprising, considering the Trumbull Troupe’s track record. Last year’s show, “Over the Moon” — written, like all the Troupe’s scripts, by Picault — was even published and made available for performance by other theaters.
“Love at First Bite” opens Friday at 7 p.m. at Richmond Middle School in Hanover, with subsequent performances Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m.