'July House' and 'Baby Blue' address ignored problems

Two student-written plays are attempting to tackle dark themes that will awake audiences to common, but often ignored, problems.

Beginning tonight, LAB! Theatre will present “July House” and “Baby Blue” in rotating repertory through Tuesday.

Sophomore director Katie Chelena said “July House” is about the way the relationship among five college friends changes as one of the friends gets caught up in a world of endless partying.

“I wanted to write from the perspective of what I’ve seen, and the worst things I’ve seen are what people do with drugs,” said Patrick Robinson, a UNC senior who wrote “July House.”

Robinson said the play deals with drug use and its effects on relationships.

“Baby Blue,” paired with “July House,” similarly deals with serious, dark themes.

Travis Wright, a UNC senior and director of “Baby Blue,” said the play is about the life of an impoverished family.

Throughout the course of the play, the tension between the parents escalates, and their relationship very quickly spirals out of control.

“I couldn’t stop writing it,” said student playwright John May, who wrote the play last year while studying abroad at UNC from Glasgow, Scotland. “It just sort of fell out of me.”

For both Wright and Chelena, the opportunity to direct the productions allowed them to dig deeper into the stories and make the plays come to life.

“I felt a lot of beautiful catharses,” Chelena said.

Chelena, who comes from a performing background, said getting the chance to direct “July House” and partake in another aspect of the theater was a great experience.

“This is my first large-scale directing extravaganza,” Chelena said.

Robinson said he found the inspiration for “July House” after wanting to write letters with his friends that they are not to open until the writer dies.

“My favorite thing about writing a play is taking a handful of images and putting them in a tight container to create an allegory,” Robinson said.

Wright said the biggest challenge in staging “Baby Blue” was working with a new script that was constantly under revision and finding the right actors for the roles.

“We wanted to make sure we had actors that were willing to be real people,” Wright said.

Both plays deal with serious, real-life issues and carry powerful messages.

May, who wrote “Baby Blue,” said the audience can expect an emotional experience.

“I’m hoping they will walk away with an understanding of what being in an abusive relationship can do to people,” May said.

Similarly, “July House” aims to impart wisdom to the audience.

“It’s a reminder to people to look after each other and take care of each other,” Chelena said.

“We act tough, but we are all really just scared kids.”

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