SEE ME
My thoughts on See Me or…out loud stories techno style
See Me, produced by OutLoud Dallas, a local youth centered arts organization, is an evening of stories told by young people from their own experiences.
What sets See Me apart is the manner in which the stories are told. They are interwoven in a fascinating, fluid manner echoing the motif of water which recurs throughout the performance. Only a few stories are told to completion. Some stories are very brief, really just a few words. Some stories are humorous. Some are confessions. Some deal with trauma. The central message here is that young people need to be heard.
That message is enhanced by the most incredible lighting technology I’ve seen in a local production. It’s one of those “this has to be seen to be believed” situations. Pictures of the cast, familiar cartoon figures, and much more appear above us on a large screen or they “float” in front of us on mobile screens. Strips of color appear randomly around the stage. The topper to the evening is when holographic images of the cast appear before us. It’s really quite remarkable. Scenic Designer Jeffery Moffitt, Lighting Designer Aaron Johansen, and Projection Designer Weyni Kahsay deserve an extended round of applause.
There’s also beautiful music from Composer Danny Anchondo and the choreography of Avery-Jai Andrews often helps communicate the unspoken thoughts of the storytellers. The flawless sound design of Claudia Jenkins Martinez keeps everything clear and audible. Oh, and be ready for a Katy Perry classic.
Ruben Carrazana devised and directed the show. There was no show in the beginning. Carrazana’s cast told their own stories, and those stories formed the basis for the show. As Carrazana states, See Me is “a show that contains the DNA of every person who touched it.” Director Carrazana weaves the stories together and stages them masterfully and, like free-flowing water, the stories “spill out” in many different directions,
Much of the appeal of See Me comes from the talented cast of six young people. Bella Brown, Breanna Cox, Jackson Holmes, Allison Marshall, Will Schmidt, and MattJohn West pull us in as they relate stories from their past that are amusing, revealing, and occasionally painful. It is they who highlight the point of the evening that “art is in us" from birth and we are all storytellers whose stories deserve to be heard, no matter what our age.
See Me continues at the Eisemann Center through October 5.
