On
a snow day in March, Highlands High School students Ben Eglian and
Kaiya Linkugel chose
not to spend the day napping or sled riding with friends during
a coveted day off school.
Instead, they made
the trek through the icy streets to Newport’s Pepper Pod, where
the
duo
had their first discussion about Escape
Routes.
Escape
Routes
is a play written by senior Ben Eglian, which dives headfirst into
the hearts and minds of today’s teenagers. Eglian
enlisted the help of junior Kaiya Linkugel to serve as co-director on
the project, which debuts this month as
part of
Cincinnati Fringe Festival‘s
FringeNext
division.
FringeNext
features four plays chosen from high school students. With the
exception of Highlands High School’s Theater Department Director
Jason Burgess serving as producer, the play is entirely run by
students.
Escape
Routes
introduces audiences to the lives of two seemingly different
students: Clark and Johnny. “It follows the story of a conflicted
valedictorian named Clark, who is forced to take a philosophy class
for the last semester of his senior year because he needs to get his
arts credit. He’s taken Calculus and Anatomy and stuff all through
high school to get these high grades. He’s looking for a place to
sit, and the only place to sit is by this guy named Johnny, who is
the complete punk of the school, the exact opposite of Clark. He has
a 1.0 grade point average, and doesn’t really care about school,”
said Eglian. As the play unfolds, we discover more
about Johnny and are able to glimpse his intelligence.
The two are forced to work together on a project about the meaning of
life, and end up spending time together thanks to the assignment.
“They
start hanging out because of the project and stuff, and an unlikely
friendship develops between the two. It sort of builds a
juxtaposition between the two that while they would seem so different
statistically, they’re very similar when they get to know each other.
They start hanging out with Johnny’s friends and stuff, and they all
start developing different ideas on life and stuff, especially Clark.
Clark starts to develop himself a lot more, and doing calculus and
anatomy and trying to become a neurologist is not what he wants to
do. He has other aspirations in life that he’s always had,” said
Eglian.
Escape
Routes
has been a year in the making for Eglian when
a thought popped into his head in May of 2014. “It
just kind of popped into my head because I was thinking about being
friends with one of my best friends, who I saw a representation of
Clark being me and Johnny being him,” said
Eglian. “It
kind of built from there.” Eglian
then looked to
the
story of Clark and Johnny when a school assignment called for a
script. In November 2014, Eglian began work on a 10-page
writing assignment for an acting class. Cincinnati
Fringe Festival requires 20 pages of a script to be submitted, so
Eglian dove back into the story to grind out another 10 pages for the
festival’s application. Once he found out that the play had been
submitted, he started working on completing the script. Casting
for the play began this
past
March, and the play’s final draft was completed in April.
No
one has ever claimed that writing is easy, which Eglian experienced
firsthand while writing Escape
Routes.
The
Escape
Routes process
took Eglian through an entire range of emotions. Some
parts of the play were difficult to write and emotionally draining,
but others were rather
enjoyable
for Eglian. “I’d
say most of it was a stream of consciousness if you know what that
is, where
it’s just writing whatever comes to your mind. So it was that, and a
lot of just digging into myself and trying to find exactly what I
wanted to say…I like where it got, but it was sometimes emotionally
draining to write about because there are sad things that happen in
the show, and it took a lot out of me to write that. Trying to get it
all done in a set amount of time too was very difficult,” said
Eglian.
Writing
Escape
Routes
was Eglian’s first real foray into the life of a playwright. “When
I
submitted Escape
Routes
to Fringe, I made it known that I’d never really written anything in
my life as far as something as extensive as this.” While
much of his story was directly inspired by his high school
experience, music was also a major factor in his approach to
storytelling. Eglian, a member of the local band Break & Run,
credits music for helping him form some of the themes seen throughout
Escape
Routes.
Musician Tyler Joseph of Twenty One Pilots has been a major point of
inspiration for Eglian. “All
of my big ideas that I’ve come up with in life and
stuff,
and my ideas in life as I hold them now, and a lot of the themes in
Escape
Routes
too are deeply rooted in what I’ve interpreted some of his songs to
mean…A
lot of the songs he’s written and stuff about dealing with fear as an
emotion, the idea of getting past fear, and many of their songs talk
about ways of doing that and stuff and finding life’s purpose. One of
their songs talks about creating something completely new of
yourself, like the idea of finding something that only you understand
and nobody else can understand, and if you can find that, you’ll see
purpose start to form. That, I’d say, is the major idea in Escape
Routes. I feel like it’s a message that everyone needs to hear,”
said
Eglian.
Once
Eglian had his sights set on the Cincinnati Fringe Festival, he
quickly recruited
the help of Fringe veteran and classmate Kaiya Linkugel. Linkugel’s
play, Names,
was
showcased in last year’s FringeNEXT category. She was able to take
her experiences from last year’s festival and apply them to her
position as co-director on Escape
Routes.
“It’s
more of a challenge, but in a good way. It’s different to direct a
play that’s not yours, and also to be collaborating. It’s way more
fun. I have a great time with Ben. We get along really well,” said
Linkugel.
This
time around is a far more relaxing experience for Linkugel. Being
an experienced Fringe participant has allowed her to understand the
importance of having fun while
also ensuring that the quality and integrity of the production
doesn’t falter.
“Last
year with my own
show,
I was very anal and everything had to be perfect,” said
Linkugel. “I’m
sure that’s how Ben feels. It’s just way more relaxed and more fun
this time, and I’m really learning how to just have fun with it and
just go with it.”
With
the Escape
Routes
team assembled, Eglian and Linkugel were ready to tackle the
rehearsal process with
their 11 cast members.
Eglian’s
attention to detail while writing was beneficial in the long run. The
Escape
Routescast
was able to jump right in with blocking and sink their teeth into the
story. “Once
the script was written, it was pretty much smooth sailing from there.
Writing the script was one of the most difficult things I’ve ever
done. So pre-production, we pretty much knew what we wanted for the
blocking and stuff. When we started rehearsing, we pretty much got in
and did it and stuff, and it’s been pretty easy from then on out,”
said
Eglian.
Watching
his words performed on stage has been one of Eglian’s favorite
aspects of bringing Escape
Routes
to life. “Oh
my gosh, it’s crazy! The craziest thing was when we were casting it,
and hearing people read from the script at
first.” Eglian
admits to have
been nervous at first, worried about how how his cast, crew, and
fellow students would interpret the script. “It
translated perfectly,” said
Eglian. “Everything
we wanted was there…I’ve been so impressed with how it’s translated
on stage. I couldn’t be happier.”
One
of the many admirable qualities of Eglian and Linkugel’s partnership
is that they have a distinct voice and a message, and they aren’t
afraid to use Escape
Routes as
a vessel for that message. Metaphors play a big part in Escape
Routes,
and although the play is by teenagers and for teenager, both Eglian
and Linkugel have worked to make sure that adults get just as much
out of the play as teenagers. “I
think I want people ultimately to know that in
the long run, the education system will put so much emphasis on doing
this or that, and you have to take these A.P. classes to be
successful. They try to emphasize the idea that success and happiness
are the same thing, and I would venture to say that that’s not true
at all. That they are, in fact, opposite. I think that’s what I want
people to know,” said
Eglian. In the play, Clark
is bound for greatness, he
is on path for the Ivy Leagues, on
the road to success. But he learns that it isn’t what he wants to do,
but instead he
wants to be a writer. Like
many teenagers
(and adults alike), Clark is faced with choosing between what he’s
been told will make him successful and what actually, truly inspires
him even if some
might think it’s the
wrong the choice. “I
think that that’s what the play’s screaming of, that you can do that.
It’s best if you do that because the best things in the world, the
best creations, and
the
people who get remembered are the people who did something that was
considered stupid at the time,” said
Eglian.
One
of the major messages that Eglian wants to convey with the show is
that people should be doing what makes them happy and what inspires
them each day. “If
that’s what makes you happy, and that’s what you want to do, then do
it and don’t stop. Create
something that you want, and find your purpose with that. If you just
follow the status quo, and just do what society tells you you have to
do forever, then you aren’t going to find happiness, you aren’t going
to be happy with yourself. That’s what I want people to take away
from it,” said
Eglian.
Hey,
adults – pay attention because this
show is also a way for you
to gain access into the minds of today’s teens, a way to bridge the
gap between generations. “The
majority of the people who come see the show are going to be adults,
and I really want adults to stop invalidating teenagers. I think that
adults are like, ‘Aw, you’re 17 years old, you don’t know what you
want to do, you’re a kid.’ No, I’m a person. My thoughts are just as
valid as your thoughts, and in all honesty, I’m not as jaded as a lot
of adults, so I have the world at my fingertips right now. I think
that’s a beautiful thing,” said
Linkugel.
For
Eglian and Linkugel, taking ownership over your life is also
an
important part of the show. “I
think that owning yourself is a huge part of the show because I think
that reason people
don’t
own themselves, or even like themselves a lot, is because they’re
invalidated by their parents and their teachers maybe. I think that’s
a really big issue. I think that understanding that you are
important, and that your life is about your life even when you’re a
kid. Understand that you’re valid even if adults
might not see that you’re valid. And I want adults to see that
teenagers are capable of having real thoughts and doing real things.
I mean, we’re doing these real things right now,” said
Linkugel.
Escape
Routes
is likely just the beginning for Eglian and Linkugel. Eglian is off
to Northern Kentucky University in the fall with a major in music. As
for Linkugel, she’s working on a new play that was started a few
months ago, and will soon be making decisions about her own future as
she starts her senior year at Highlands High School in the fall.
You
can catch a performance of Escape Routes at the School
for Creative and Performing Arts in Cincinnati. Purchase tickets for the show and find out more about Escape
Routes by visiting the Cincinnati Fringe Festival’s website.
Performances are at the following times:
Thursday, May 28 – 8:15PM
Saturday, May 30 – 4:40PM
Saturday, May 30 – 9:15PM
