Off Center Season Tiptoes Into Provocative Drama

One mark of a strong company, be it theater or cars or apps, is understanding the customer.

Center Repertory gets it. Some theater-goers want Cole Porter, Charles Dickens, Neil Simon and William Shakespeare. Others, perhaps more adventurous, seek the freshest voices.

For the pioneering segment of the Center Rep audience, the Off Center Season is an opportunity to dabble in the unknown. Now in its third year, the plays tiptoe into provocative territory in the Lesher Center’s intimate Knight Stage 3.

The Storytelling Ability of a Boy, written by Carter W. Lewis and directed by Jessica Heidt, artistic director of Climate Theater in San Francisco, makes its West Coast premiere in Walnut Creek on Oct. 27.

Playwright Lewis’ investment in telling stories harks back to his early days as co-founder and resident playwright for Upstart Stage in Berkeley. Now at Washington University, his tale of two teens and the teacher who tries to create a new life for herself through them, is jolting, raw, and surprisingly funny, according to Heidt.

“I love the complex humanity of all three of these characters,” she says, in an interview. “It can go a million different ways and all of them are right.”

Heidt chose to zero in on the relationships and the art of storytelling itself. With what she calls a “meta-view” on the plot, she allows the changing perspectives (as each character takes the narrative away from the next) to manipulate the story.

Bullying and alienation are central themes, with both the two teens and their adult teacher suffering from outsider moments. Balancing the dark subject matter with humor, Heidt was cautious about tipping too far in either direction.

“Instead of collapsing into the pain, the characters come out fighting or use it to reach a different place. They always push through it,” she suggests.

To cast the three roles, she looked for actors who were likable.

“Especially for Dora, [the female teen] whose actions are not always likable, she had to be someone the audience could respond to.”

In the auditions, Heidt asked actors to tell a joke.

I learned more from the people who were unable to complete the task. How did they present humor when they hadn’t had a chance to prepare? There were actors who couldn’t come up with something or it made them uncomfortable.”

The actors also had to be able to project an intense vulnerability while delivering the play’s aggressive language.

“It’s not a play for little kids,” Heidt cautions. “For example, I wouldn’t bring a 10-year-old, but for most high school students, it’s not more than what they see in movies.”

The set, an abstract world created out of lockers, provides the final touch in the play’s jarring, angular, physical environment.

But all is not pathos and torture, Heidt insists. Underneath, Storytelling’s girding is reinforced with laughter and the deep love of friends.