Dark Water’s Unanticipated Relevance

St. Lawrence’s recent production of “Dark Water” may be about the infamous Deepwater Horizon oil spill which happened nearly a decade ago, but continues to be relevant. When Angela Sweigart-Gallagher, professor of performance and communication arts and director of St. Lawrence’s production of “Dark Water” chose to do the play last year, “it felt relevant in other ways, but is prescient now.”

Sweigart-Gallagher emphasized that a similar disaster is “more and more likely in our current regulatory and political environment.” The play is “about the past, but could be about the future,” she added.

David Stallings, the playwright of “Dark Water,” deliberately chose to tell the story from the animals’ perspective. He said that he frequently writes magical realism and stories dealing with the southern United States, where he is from, and also tells stories from the “lens of the victims.” Using animals is “more artistic,” and “can make a political statement without calling out policies and procedures.” “Using metaphor can speak to people whose minds are closed,” Stallings added.

In order to be faithful to its topic, the production tried to be as sustainable as possible. Hannah Kingsley ’18, wardrobe supervisor for “Dark Water,” stated that “a lot of the costumes came from items we already had and were distressed or altered…It let us be really creative.” In addition to the costumes, Kingsley said that most of the set pieces were donated or repurposed, and donated plastic bottles were hung from the ceiling. The only set piece that had to be purchased was the sheet plastic used to represent the oil.

Sweigart-Gallagher was drawn to the play for a variety of reasons. One was the way that the play “deals with an ecological disaster in ways that touch on many other issues,” Sweigart-Gallagher said. The characters “engage with political and economic issues…that speak to what we as people face” she added. Not only does the play deal with an ecological disaster, she said, but it “connects it to slower-moving socioeconomic disasters like trickle-down economics and racism.”

Another reason was the inclusion of strong female characters, which Sweigart-Gallagher said she is always looking for. The main character of “Dark Water,” for example, is a mother searching for her children. “Other roles for women [in the show] are maybe not as heroic, but are also interesting and strong” Sweigart-Gallagher added.

Sweigart-Gallagher hopes that audiences can learn from the show. She set out to “stake a claim about the role of theater in broad conversations.” She also hopes that audiences think about how “we impact humans and other animals” with our actions. Stallings wants audiences to ask questions. “It is not my job to dictate to an audience, but to listen.”