THEATER
Learning to Walk
When: 8 p.m. Saturday
Where:172 Theater Building
Admission: Free

By Devyn Young
[email protected]

Four actors, one playwright, and a director huddle around a table. The playwright vigorously takes notes, crossing off lines that don’t work when said aloud. The actors struggle some, particularly the pronunciation for some of the made-up words throughout the play.

They laugh as they come across a funny line, the playwright circling the sentence and writing a large “yes” after hearing the reaction. They are rehearsing for the first University of Iowa Theater Department production of the year, Learning to Walk.

Learning to Walk, by UI junior Laura Townsend, will première Saturday in 172 Theater Building.

The play tells the story of the Baines family, who lost a son to suicide five months ago. The show explores how each person deals with grief in her or his own way.

“[The play] is about the clash of their emotions and trying to stay united in spite of their pain,” Townsend said.

She acted in shows throughout high school, then discovered playwriting her senior year.

“I love how everyone works together, and at the end, you can create something that is beautiful to you and beautiful to other people,” she said. “You can leave having gained something that you didn’t necessarily have before.”

Learning to Walk is not only the first Theater Department show of the year, it is also the first in its long line of readings of new work throughout the year.

“With [readings], you get four rehearsals,” director Alosha Robinson said. “Then you have one performance date.”

The Baines family consists of Denise, Mike, and Hannah. Hannah, who is 19 years old, comes home from her first year of college to find her family’s world completely different after the suicide of her older brother. Her mother has joined a small, local religion, and her father has stopped wearing suits, which he’s worn ever since she could remember.

Hannah is played by UI freshman Senead Short, an Iowa City native. Short never acted in high school, but instead played in the pit band for shows.

“I used to watch the actors; I loved how they could transform into something real,” Short said.

Robinson believes the show will work well with audiences because it’s so real.

“It’s a slice-of-life piece,” he said. “This piece is down-to-earth; it’s rooted in a family, a family that’s struggling with grief. It’s about finding resilience and tragedy that can come from disappointment, pain and loss.”

Townsend’s goal was to write a realistic play anyone could relate to.

“Even if I had to make them up, I wanted somebody that I could relate to and a family that someone else could see themselves reflected in,” she said.