When “Where the Lost Children Play” is performed at the Blue Moon Theatre this month, it will be the first time anyone in our area has ever seen the show, including the play’s creator, Hannah Lee DeFrates.
DeFrates said she grew up in Haddon Township before heading off to Lycoming College in Williamsport, Pa., where she was attending when she wrote the play in 2022.
The play was first produced by a company in Cincinnati, Ohio soon after, but this is the first time DeFrates has been involved in any way with a performance of her own show, aside from a stage reading she directed in college shortly after writing it. She said she’s never seen it performed in person before now.
DeFrates, who is also a singer and an actor, said she has experience working in shows at Blue Moon, and with the show’s director Jim Cook.
“I did ‘Charlotte’s Web’ with Jim, and that was the first show he directed,” DeFrates said. “I was in love with his artistic vision, and when they (Blue Moon) said they were going to do ‘Lost Children’ I said, ‘Jim has to direct! He would have something beautiful to say with this.’”
Cook, who is a playwright himself, said he’s had experience in directing his own works, but said this is the first time he’s led a production of a new original work written by someone else.
“She’s done a phenomenal job of it,” Cook said. “It was very special to have her invite me to do this and trust me with her work.
“What I love about Hannah is that she isn’t too precious about it. When I was staging it, she didn’t show up to those rehearsals. She said, ‘I want you to figure it out on your own. I want you to find it for yourself. The sky’s the limit.’”
The writer and director were interviewed separately for this piece, but their comments about one another and their outlook on the show were completely in sync.
“I wrote the show, and it’s in good hands,” DeFrates said. “I’m not here to micromanage or to tell him what to do with that. I’m here to see this become a higher art form.”
Blending aspects of science fiction, dark comedy and drama, “Where the Lost Children Play” is a coming of age story set inside a unique dystopian vision.
“Willow and Poppy live in a society where Order is chaos, but they have found a constant – an empty stairwell they’ve claimed as their own secret Neverland,” reads the play’s description. “But when the shadows of their dystopian reality begin to seep into their haven, these ‘lost children’ must learn how to hold onto the light and – more importantly – each other.”
For Blue Moon owner Cheryl Walker-Stark, DeFrates’ work is exactly the type of opportunity she’d love to see more of for her company.
“We are very excited because we know Hannah, and we love Hannah,” Walker-Stark said. “To be able to take a play from a local playwright and put it out there – it’s the beginning for her. It’s allowing this place to be a space that’s going to open up for new playwrights to come in and share what they have, and hopefully be a launching pad for themselves, as well as for us.”
Cook, too, said he was grateful for the unique opportunity the show presents.
“I’m so thankful to the Blue Moon for trusting me with this original piece and for Hannah to trust me to bring her baby to life,” Cook said. “This is going to be something that no one has ever seen before, and the type of theater that we’re producing is something that hasn’t ever been done in this area.This is a completely new experience.”
Cook said one unique aspect of the show is that they’ve also created a filmed companion piece to go along with the live production, based on another of DeFrates’ works.
“She wrote a short play called ‘The Last Spin Cycle,’ and I adapted it into a short film called ‘The Laundry Room,’” Cook said. “So, we’re using that as a sort of prologue. When audiences come to the show, they’ll be able to see the film first, then we’ll go right into the play.”
DeFrates said she actually hopes to see more filmed versions of her work in the future, and said “Where the Lost Children Play” is part of a larger connected universe of stories she’s created. She said she’s written a couple of spinoff projects, including one that is being recorded as an audio drama.
But when it comes to “Lost Children,” she said her idea of success would simply be for people to connect with the material and with the version brought to life at Blue Moon.
“I just want people to love it and to see what Jim and the team have done with the show, and to fall in love with their vision for it. It’s really about the characters. They’re the heart of everything. And so if people fall in love with them, I will be happy.”
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