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Regional Reviews: St. Louis Wild Nights
The scholar Wendy Anne Powers draws a list of parallels between Emily Dickinson and Emily Brontë in their family histories and inclinations, but there's only one famed writer here at the Amherst address. Ashwini Arora plays the reclusive Dickinson, who comically insists that no one look her in the eye, in spite of the transcendental experiment she's conducting with her sister-in-law, Sue (Ellie Schwetye), in line with the 19th century "spiritualism" craze. Their impetuous plan, involving a mail order service that promises to reveal the face of God, delivers instead a boisterous gaggle of modern high school sophomores into the poet's staid New England household. Five Boston tenth graders pour in from a particular Friday night nearly 29 years ago, when the world held its breath over the fate of Britain's Princess Diana after a car crash in Paris. To quote Jean Harlow in Dinner at Eight, it's "a nutty kind of a book." But it all weaves together like a fresh set of neural pathways in our brains, thanks to playwright Bailey and directors Conroy and Harper. And that's despite the fact that these teens have a list, outré and mundane, of requirements for revealing the holiest visage during a sleepover (including name-brand snacks, a torrid love song by Stevie Nicks, and a celebration of each of their secret boy crushes). But, setting aside the face of God, the real miracle comes from how beautifully the late 20th century smashes into the mid-19th again and again. It's a funny and poetic meditation on the stripping bare of the soul. In their ritual, Emily and the teens must each take part in a confessional moment, speaking into a mirror in the poet's bedroom, professing a secret love, perhaps reminding us of The Boys in the Band. This Emily gets several writerly spotlights in her crowded hideaway before a comical near-death experience near the end. But in the teenagers' fraught reflective moments, they also become like 19th century romantics, as modern affectations are swept away. Playing another Dickinson sister, Letitia, Rachel Tibbetts echoes the other Emily, her love-lorn character from Brontë Sister House Party clad now in an elaborate, laugh-inducing costume designed by Marcy Wiegert. Will her longing be redeemed at last? The lovingly detailed sleepover set is by co-director Conroy, who appears on stage as one of the sophomores, and there's a perfect series of clever light cues designed by Bradley Rohlf, creating moods both pensive and otherworldly. Molly Burris plays a European-born high schooler from Sarajevo, adding an acrid touch of Slavic humor throughout; and the performer known as Keating is wildly fresh as one of the modern gang. Zander Huggins and Mia Williams add fun cameos. The script gains literary heft from unexpected sources: Tamagotchi pets and an American Girl doll, as well as an immortal jellyfish and a 1990s Trapper Keeper that becomes their spiritual guide. The mental null-space required for pure revelation gets larger and larger in our heads, even as adolescent humor, thwarted romance, and a fun card trick eventually halt our chattering minds. Francesca Ferrari and Cassidy Flynn also star, the latter getting a splendid monologue near the end. Any resemblance to Brontë Sister House Party becomes purely superficial in a work that may even outdo Ms. Bailey's glorious House Party. Wild Nights (An Emily Dickinson Sleepover Play in Which we Hope to See the Face of God), produced by Young Liars Theatre, runs through June 13, 2026, at Greenfinch Theater and Dive, 2525 South Jefferson Avenue, St. Louis MO. For tickets and information, please visit www.youngliarstheatre.org. Cast: Production Staff: |
