Masquers’ ‘Firebringer’ breaks some new ground

SOAP LAKE — The Masquers Theater has brought many traditional musical plays to the stage. “Firebringer,” written by Meridith Stepien, Mark Swiderski, Matt Lang, Nick Lang and Brian Holden, is not one of them. 

“It's a bit of an obscure absurdist musical about a tribe of cave people who want to evolve and advance and do all the fun things, like discover fire, fight sabertooth tigers and mammoths, and at the end is a very sweet surprise,” said Zhane Serrano, who’s co-directing the production with Allison Pheasant. “It's weird and kooky, and it's just a little bit all over the place.” 

Much of the story centers on the conflict between tribal leader Jemilla the Peacemaker (Rachel Bresee), and her tribeswoman Zazzalil (Lydia Harris), who questions everything she’s told. Along the way, they discover esoteric human concepts like dancing, comedy, hunting and, of course, fire. 

“It’s a very female empowerment, evolutionary type of play,” Bresee said. “Learning how to do life as humans in the beginning of time … it’s like toddlers learning how to take their first steps.” 

Most of the positions of authority in the tribe are held by woman except for the shaman, called Ducker (Jeff Ames) because he tends to the Almighty Duck who serves as the tribe’s god. The tribe’s former leader, Molag, was originally written as female but is male in the Masquers version and played by Pat Rosman. The tribe’s other men have the less-than-elegant names of “Grunt” (Seth Martinez) and “Smelly-Butt” (Justin Thompson). 

“Firebringer” marks an evolution, so to speak, for the Masquers in several ways. One is the use of live instrumentalists rather than a backing track. 

“We scrambled to find and pull musicians from all over,” Serrano said. “Some of my colleagues I work with at (Big Bend Community College) and students are helping out in the pit. Even Jeff Ames, he's going to come back and play some instruments when he's not on stage.” 

Masquers musicals in the past have run into difficulty with the audience’s ability to hear, Serrano said, so this production will use microphones. That serves to even out the disparate voices, she said. 

“When you’re a singer, it’s really hard to sing very loud, especially when you have a nice, soft voice like Auti Kirk. She has such a sweet, delicate voice. And we also have some powerhouse voices (like) Emma Galloway, who’s got this strong, prominent voice. That mix is hard to do without any microphone.” 

“Firebringer” is very much a product of the Internet Age. The play was funded initially through the crowdfunding website Kickstarter, according to the website of the production company, StarKid Productions. A video of the original production, staged in 2016 in Chicago, went viral on YouTube. 

“When (StarKid) finally released the rights about nine-ish years ago, I thought I would love to do that show any day,” Serrano said. “This show has not been done in central Washington ever, to my knowledge. I’ve seen it on the west side before, but it’s the first time (it’s been) done here.” 

Many of the cast members are younger as well, mostly in their 20s, Harris said. 

“This just feels like peak millennial humor, and all of us just get each other's humor,” she said.” 

The play comes in two versions, Rosman, said, one intended for college theater groups and the other for high schools. The high school version has a few more monologues and a whole lot less profanity, and that’s the one the Masquers are using, he said. 

“It's just a fun, silly show with some decent music, and everybody's having fun,” Rosman said. “And that should show.” 

‘Firebringer’ 

Masquers Theater 

322 E. Main Ave., Soap Lake 

June 14-29 

Fri. & Sat. 7 p.m.
Sun. 2 p.m.
www.masquers.com 

Cast 

Jemilla: Rachel Bresee 

Zazzala: Lydia Harris 

Emberly: Rebecca Grommesh 

Grunt: Seth Martinez 

Keeri; Emma Arledge 

Schwoopsie: Whitley Rushton 

Ducker; Jeff Ames 

Tiblyn: Auti Kirk 

Smelly-Butt: Justin Thompson 

Molag: Pat Rosman 

Claire: Michaela Greely 

Nicolai: David Tiffany 

Clark: Clark Dalton 

    Molag, Pat Rosford - left, tells Jemilla the Peacemaker, Rachel Bresee, that everything she believes is false in the Masquers Theater production of “Firebringer.”
  

    The Masquers production of “Firebringer” features a mostly younger, female cast.
  

    “Firebringer” is the first Masquers musical in a long time to use live musicians.