The universe of Robin Hood, full of swords, boots, and trees started to disappear on Sunday, June 23. Minute by minute, tree by tree, Robin Hood’s Sherwood Forest began to look peculiar. Soon, Little John, Friar Tuck and Robin Hood himself had no home in their once-familiar forest.
By Monday morning, it was Bikini Bottom.
Sword fights and Robin Hood heroics in “Sherwood: The Adventures of Robin Hood” became burger spatulas and a quest to save the underwater world. Legs were transformed into tentacles soon after.
From June 29 to July 6, with her two best friends, Patrick Star and Sandy Cheeks, SpongeBob saved Bikini Bottom every night, working tirelessly until the curtains closed on their legendary expedition in “The SpongeBob Musical.”
This is the Weathervane Playhouse in Newark, where worlds are created and destroyed every two weeks, and summer stock theater proves to be both a marathon and a sprint.
Weathervane, at 100 Price Road in Newark, is a professional playhouse that hosts summer stock theater every year, bringing in actors, directors and creatives from all across the country. The playhouse hosts productions year-round, but summer stock is a little different. It is an American tradition of theater produced with a resident team of actors, along with the scenery and costumes that the theater has on hand – their “stock.”
The stock is quickly reimagined for each show, like a skateboard that was disguised as Gary, SpongeBob’s pet snail sidekick. Or the rickety ladder that stood tall in the corner of the stage as Mount Doom. Umbrellas were waved across the stage as Jellyfish. With a little imagination, and a lot of help from Weathervane’s Artistic Director Jennifer Sansfacon, the main stage in the red barn is transformed week after week.
“We call it ‘Summer Magic,’” said Executive Director Lauren Harvey, who has been with Weathervane in some capacity since a college internship in 2016.
From May 30 through July 27, Weathervane put on five shows, each with only two weeks of rehearsal time. From opening the script to belting on stage in front of audiences, the cast of creatives only have 14 days to do the seemingly impossible.
“It is amazing to see what all can come out of this in such a quick turnaround of those two weeks,” Harvey said. “So much should go wrong, but it all falls in place. No matter what goes wrong, it all seems to fall in place.”
Saying it should go wrong is an understatement.
In two weeks, universes such as Bikini Bottom, Sherwood Forest, or the dungeon from “Man of La Mancha,” are built, broken in, and then destroyed. While one show is being performed in the evening, a different combination of actors are rehearsing the next show from 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
With a wave of the hidden magic wand Weathervane must have, in two weeks actors such as Carly Shepherd are transformed from Aldonza, the “serving woman,” in “Man of La Mancha” to Patrick Star, the pink starfish and best friend of Spongebob Squarepants. Then, she was Jimmie in “Red Velvet Cake Wars,” which began on July 11.
Shepherd, a 24-year-old from Cincinnati, brought smiles to every face in the audience of Weathervane, young and old, during her time as Patrick Star. Armed with a bright pink wig and an even brighter pink Hawaiian shirt, Shepherd stole hearts and clearly had her own cup full of Summer Magic.
“Weathervane Playhouse is an escape to a new world with laughs and tears,” Shepherd said.
In this instance, it was laughter. Thanks to Weathervane’s tiered pricing and general admission days, many are able to experience the joy that comes from watching Shepherd “fly” around the stage in a homemade jetpack. The jetpack was once just a Jansport backpack. Now, it is magic.
The summer’s production lineup is made up of three musicals and two plays. The musicals each have a general admission day, when tickets are half price. The plays offer tiered pricing. A set number of tickets are available for five dollars, and when those sell out, there are tickets for $10, then $15, and so on.
“We know theater is a privilege, and not a necessity,” Harvey said, “so we want everyone who wants to be here to be able to come. We want to make it accessible to everyone in the community.”
According to a report by the United Way of Licking County, 37% of Licking County residents are classified as Asset Limited Income Contained Employees. They are people above the poverty line, but just barely, and they are living paycheck to paycheck.
See also: 37% of Licking County households live one flat tire from financial disaster
Understanding this, Weathervane tickets that are typically $36 a seat are unattainable for many. However, with tiered pricing and general admission days, Weathervane is doing everything it can to continue to spread the joy of live theater, while keeping its doors open. Along with student, senior, and child reduced rates, very few in the velvet seats ever need to pay full price.
On June 2, a general admission day, when those doors open, at 7 p.m., and audience members take a step underwater into the land of Bikini Bottom, they are greeted by none other than Patchy the Pirate.
Patchy the Pirate, for those who did not grow up watching the Nickelodeon mainstay cartoon, is the live-action host of Spongebob who sings the theme song at the beginning of every episode.
Instead of welcoming guests with a classic Patchy “aarrrr ya ready kids,” Owen White, the 16-year-old Patchy, runs through the audience asking children who their favorite characters are. Before long, Patchy is chased out of the theater, but not before capturing an endless amount of crowd selfies.
White, the youngest member of the musical, is a product of Weathervane through and through, and was in many of the children’s productions through the Weathervane Youth Academy.
Karen Gill, a patron in the audience for this iteration of Spongebob, also happened to be White’s 83-year-old neighbor. Gill, who has been coming to Weathervane since it was an outdoor arena with bleachers, has nothing but good things to say about the playhouse, and her neighbors performance.
“Weathervane is an amazing cultural resource,” she said, “and it is just sheer entertainment.”
Like White, Connor Triplett was born and bred Weathervane. At the age of 9, Triplett, the 24-year-old Newark native, was enrolled in the Weathervane children’s theater by his grandma. After his first Weathervane show, “High School Musical,” his fate was sealed. Thirteen years later, Triplett is back after a stint in New York at the Institute for American Musical Theater and at a contemporary dance company in Columbus.
In this iteration of Triplett’s famed Weathervane career, he is Squidward, Spongebob’s grouchy neighbor and coworker. He is also a professionally trained dancer with a show-stopping tap routine. Clad in a shiny blazer and an extra set of green legs, Triplett dances, taps, and spins across the stage.
It is no surprise then, that the Newark local was also asked to be the assistant choreographer for the first musical of Weathervane’s run this summer, “Man of La Mancha.” He worked alongside Erika Wills, his first dance teacher some 13 years ago.
“No matter the demographic,” said Triplett, “everybody loves to listen to a story. Song, dance, and a story is like a universal language. It impacts this community a lot more than meets the eye. ”
There is truly nothing more magical than a tap dancing squid with orange hair.
“Weathervane is a place where people can escape the stress of their day,” said Emmaline Conlin, 23, who plays Spongebob.
Care, passion, and love of the arts is undeniable in the halls of Weathervane. As actors came pouring down the aisles during the first number of the show, whether they were retired or still learning to walk, smiles overtook almost every face in the audience.
And when the show ended, and the audience was released back into the real world, coming up to the surface. After almost two hours of Bikini Bottom joy, and talent, it is hard to not smile even more when Spongebob and Squidward wave you to your car, and tell you to drive safely.
Sarah Sollinger writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.