A Nebraska Wesleyan University instructor who found herself conducting classes from her home this spring decided to use the pandemic that put her there to good use.
The assignment to students in Becky Boesen’s suddenly online playwriting course: Write a script — in less than a week — for a short play for young audiences that addresses children’s anxieties and experiences of COVID-19 and the social distancing restrictions put in place to slow its spread.
Boesen and Petra Wahlqvist, who cofounded Blixt Locally Grown, a Lincoln-based theater company committed to improving the lives of children and families through the arts, came up with the idea after the pandemic sent both university teachers home. They told Boesen’s students that Blixt would produce one of the scripts.
Nine students submitted plays, and the Blixt folks chose to produce “Captain Soapman,†a play by Claire Opheim, a sophomore theater studies major from Bennington who goes by the pen name Mary Sinclair. It can be viewed on the website.
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Wahlqvist said they wanted to address the chaos of the pandemic to their young audiences. They added ideas for activities kids could do related to the play.
“We figured that we could do this while also providing an opportunity for emerging playwrights in our community, and exploring how to deliver new theatrical experiences via an online platform.â€
In the play, an 8-year-old boy named Michael is anxious when an army of hostile germs kidnaps his favorite toy and he learns to use soap to get rid of them.
The script by Opheim is funny and silly and addresses the anxiety kids feel about the virus and about being separated from family.
Opheim told a Wesleyan publication she wanted to empower kids and give them a sense of hope.
“Too often, children feel helpless or small because of their age,†she said. “But I made Michael the superhero 'Captain Soapman' to show other kids that they can be just as helpful and powerful during scary times.â€
Then the Blixt folks took on the challenge of producing a play via Zoom video-conferencing so actors could maintain social distance.
“It was such a good learning experience for us because we had to figure it out as we went,†Wahlqvist said. “We really didn’t have a blueprint to follow."
Actors played the scary germs, an actor playing Michael wore a cape, his dad was there, and his grandma and his mom — all actors zooming in from their homes.
Originally, Wahlqvist said, they’d planned to essentially read the script over Zoom. Then the idea took on a life of its own and they enlisted actors and singers who played their parts — then figured they’d expand their base.
They used a song written by David Von Kampen, and Boesen and enlisted the help of 30 community members to help them sing it.
The Lincoln mayor sings a bar or two; so does the Lincoln Public Schools superintendent and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln chancellor. They enlisted the help of educators and arts leaders and others — and were amazed by the response.
“We thought it would be kind of a neat way for the young people watching to see how a whole community is coming together,†Wahlqvist said.