Safe at Home actor Andrew Chavez performs the final scene of the play in the visitors stairwell as the audience watches from the sidelines at Darryl and Lori Schroeder Park, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024 in Houston, Texas. | Raphael Fernandez/The Cougar
As the School of Theatre and Dance at the Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts moved forward with its 2024-25 season, the department presented a unique theatrical experience called Safe at Home.
The play opened on Nov. 7 at Darryl and Lori Schroeder Park and continued till Nov. 10.
The production consisted of guest director Jack Reuler, co-writers Gabriel Greene and Alex Levy and actors that included a mix of UH students and professional actors from the Houston area.
The play
Safe at Home is set in the seventh game of the fictional 2024 World Series, where the San Diego Padres played the Texas Rangers.
The central conflict revolves around whether or not the Padres’ pitcher, Victor Castillo, will stage a protest at the pitcher’s mound.
The play addressed current political topics including ethnic discrimination, deportation and exploitation in athletics and the US immigration policy.
“When the writers wrote the play in 2023, the Rangers and the Padres were chosen because both were connected to immigration and were border states,” Reuler said. “Up until last year, neither had won the World Series.”
The play runs an approximate 90 minutes, cycles through nine seven-minute scenes. The audience members are directed by tour guides dressed head to toe in San Diego Padres’ gear.
Each scene plays cues at their end, and the audience is directed by the guides and upbeat pop instrumentals to their next location.
“90 minutes out from the start of the game, the audience learns that star pitcher Victor Castillo may or may not be planning a protest at the start of the game,” Greene said. “As the audience goes through each scene, they learn more about Castillo until it culminates with meeting Victor himself right before game time.”
“Safe at Home” actors Greg Dean (left) and Jason E. Charmichael (right) perform a scene in the home dugout as the audience watches from the bench at Darryl and Lori Schroeder Park, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024 in Houston, Texas. | Raphael Fernandez/The Cougar
Safe at Home is a voyeuristic journey into the intimate conversations of executives, players, political candidates and others.
It doesn’t occupy a traditional theater space, instead takes place in a baseball stadium with a unique twist on traditional stage play.
“Site-specific immersive theater has long been a passion of mine, as it allows the audience to be both voyeur and participant,” Reuler said. “In Safe at Home, the set and actors stay put while the audience moves, cycling through nine scenes in nine locations to see a whodunit thriller unfold.”
The message
Guest Director Jack Reuler aims to advance social change in the plays he directs.
“I like to work with material that doesn’t just reveal changes that have to be made, but gives a call to action at the end,” Reuler said. “At the end of the play the viewer’s not just thinking, ‘Oh, I didn’t know that,’ they’re thinking to themselves, ‘Now I know this and here’s what I’m going to do.”
The play also addresses the politics of sports, especially Major League Baseball. Both Greene and Levy are baseball fanatics, although neither are Padres or Rangers fans.
Safe at Home invites audiences to change the way they think about professional athletes and understand the politics better.
“Baseball is this iconic American sport that has always resisted the idea of outside politics, it held itself above them,” Greene said. “However, when you dig deeper you learn that it’s a fabrication.”
Audiences’ reaction
While the play was first brainstormed in the early 2010s, attendees found the issues to be relatable even today.
The audience also found it relevant as the US grapples with the recent re-election of former President Donald Trump.
“This play reflects how people are feeling today and the real issues, and I loved that the playwrights are addressing real issues happening now,” said UH alumni Deborah Nowinski. “I just wish society didn’t require plays like this.”
“Safe at Home” actor Austin Atencio lays on the ground after a bathroom action sequence as the audience applauds behind him at Darryl and Lori Schroeder Park, Friday, Nov. 8, 2024 in Houston, Texas. | Raphael Fernandez/The Cougar
How the play came to UH
Reuler was contacted by interim director of School of Theatre and Dance Jim Johnson, to produce the play at UH after a previous production in Frisco, Texas. This marks Reuler’s second time directing a play at UH.
“I commend the department for taking this on, and I hope experiences like this one ripples out to the entire field, not only theater training,” Reuler said. “It’s been heartwarming and breathtaking, and I hope my relationship with the University, now two years in length, goes on for some time.”
Reuler is the founder and current Artistic Director Emeritus at Mixed Blood Theatre Company and previously directed “The Skin of Our Teeth” by Thornton Wilder in November of 2023 at UH.
The School of Theatre and Dance will conclude their fall season with the annual Emerging Choreographers Showcase on Nov. 22, 2024.
