SEMO to present musical comedy 'Firebringer'

A musical comedy about cave-people and the discovery of fire will open Thursday, May 4, at the Southeast Missouri State University River Campus in Cape Girardeau.

"Firebringer" is a "New Stone Age musical" created by Starkid, a theater company that originated out of the University of Michigan with book by Matt Lang, Nick Lang and Brian Holden and music and lyrics by Meredith Stepien and Mark Swiderski.

According to the Starkid website, the story of "Firebringer" follows the leader of a tribe of cave people who taught them to express themselves, rather than bashing each other's heads with rocks and eating each other's babies. But one member of the tribe is always trying to invent things to make life easier and on day stumbles upon the most important discovery in history. One that will pit her tribe against woolly mammoths and saber-toothed tigers and change the world forever. She'll travel from omega to alpha, and become -- Firebringer!

SEMO Senior, Julian Ledford, directed the musical comedy as part of the Dobbins Conservatory of Theatre and Dance Signature Series.

Ledford said she grew up watching Starkid productions and was "overjoyed" to be given the opportunity to direct one of their shows. She said the comedy of "Firebringer" is big and "over-the-top", and even though the play is set during the stone-age the story and characters are reflective of modern times.

"A lot of the issues that the tribe goes through as a society and as a unit are very similar to things that we experience today," Ledford said. "It deals with a lot of political and religious issues, as well as the overall standing and hierarchy of the different people in the tribe."

Arlo Ehly, staff accompanist at SEMO and a faculty mentor for the production, agreed with Ledford's assessment that "Firebringer" holds a mirror up to today's society.

"The way the characters talk about fire and the way fire changes the tribe reflects a lot of how technology, such as cellphones and the internet, has changed us today," Ehly said.

Ledford described, Zazzalil, the character who discovers fire, as a "go-getter" and a rule breaker.

"Her whole journey is about discovering herself and trying to advance in society and trying to do that with the tribe and bringing everyone together," Ledford said.

She said much of the play's dialogue is the tribe speaking together in unison. Ledford said this helped her develop a concept for the show.

"The idea that we can't evolve as a society unless we do it together," Ledford said. "Just finding those moments of when the tribe truly is together and when they think they're together versus when they actually are."

"Firebringer" will have one performance at 7:30 p.m. Thursday and two performances at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 6. The play will be performed in the Flex Theatre in the main River Campus building.

For more information and to purchase tickets, contact the River Campus Box Office at (573) 651-2265 or visit tickets@semo.edu.