“And Somewhere We Will Meet” went up at Shanley Pavilion on Valentine’s Day, but don’t chalk this show up as a cute way to show your special friend you care.
“I wouldn’t go as a first date,” said Jenn Babin, the show’s writer and director. “It might be a little heavy. Also don’t come drunk, [because] that would be inappropriate.”
The play has its light and dark moments, but ultimately deals with the expectations and emotions surrounding a fabled part of a romance: the wedding night. When facing graduation and – believe it or not – probably getting married in the next decade or two, the show’s themes may hit home for NU students.
Babin, a senior in the School of Communication, was inspired by her best friend from home, who got engaged last December. “She’s a year younger than me, and I was like, ‘Wow, that would be like me getting married right now.’” She credits her upbringing in “rural-ish” Lansdale, Penn., where conservative and religious attitudes lead some to marry young, a concept with which she says Northwestern students are unfamiliar.
She used her friend’s experience to create her two main characters: Carrie, the bride, and Jacob, the groom. The play tells the story of the couple’s wedding night, and the conflicts between the two that prevent them from consummating their union. These issues include Carrie’s virginity and past views of men, and Jacob’s disapproving family and more liberal attitude. Only two actors, Communication juniors Tracy MacKenzie and Mitch Lerner, are on stage throughout the show, but each actor plays several different characters through flashbacks and lighting changes.
In creating these characters, Babin didn’t perfectly mimic her friend’s traits. She said, “I feel like [my characters have] bits and pieces of every single person I’ve ever known.”
“And Somewhere We Will Meet” is the first play Babin has ever written. She wrote it as part of the Creative Writing for the Media program, under the supervision of Professor Rebecca Gillman. She and her classmates each wrote and revised a play during one quarter. Babin thought that was the end of her playwriting career.
“It was a very personal play for me, and when I finished it, I was like, ‘Okay, I’ll just tuck that away in a binder of things that I’ve written,’” she said.
She wasn’t sold on producing her play until word about her script got out, and she was approached by Vertigo, a theater group that produces student-written plays. “I felt less pressure that way because I was like, ‘Well, they asked me for it. If they hate it, it’s their own fault.”
Vertigo chose her play, which Babin wished to direct herself. Though familiar with the concept of writer-directors in film, it was more difficult to direct her own work on stage. Still, Babin got her way, and received full creative control of her work. “[The play] was something that I felt so close to, so it was about seeing it through to the end,” she said. “And it was really cool. I’m really glad that I did direct.”
Though Babin says she found her theatrical experience to be rewarding, she sees herself more as a screenwriter. She is pursuing majors in theatre and English as well as a minor in film and media studies. In addition, she participates in the Creative Writing for the Media program. She has had internships at Marvel Comics and Comedy Central (where she met Carrot Top, who she says is “short and terrifying”), and plans to move to Los Angeles after graduation in June to beg for her dream job as a staff writer for The Office.
But for now, Babin is focused on “And Somewhere We Will Meet,” which, like her life, is open-ended.
“What I like about it is that none of the questions are answered in the end,” Babin said. “It’s just these are two people in one moment in their life and we don’t know what’s going to happen as soon as they wake up the next morning.”