Over five consecutive weeks, WP Theater presents five different plays which are in varying stages of development. The third of five entries into this year’s Pipeline Festival is a musical called Afloat. We are in the year 2100 and climate change has rendered large parts of New York City uninhabitable. A few young brave souls want to find a better life. Casey (Michelle Veintimilla) promised to find her brother at Camp Green, the (voluntary?) faraway paradise promised in a brochure. They meet, agree on a plan, steal a sailboat and begin their quest.
In the program, the authors note that most of us won’t live long enough to see the worst effects of climate change including “massive displacement of coastal populations, global droughts and famines, medieval diseases rebooted by melting permafrost…” Afloat imagines the generation that faces this crisis. Some humans are good, some are bad, all are struggling to cope. The other two leads in this piece are Zeniba Britt and Max Sheldon; the three do an admirable job taking us on this dystopian adventure which, like Huckleberry Finn, is clearly commenting on entrenched attitudes.
Zoe Sarnak (music and lyrics) and Emily Kaczmarek (book) have created an interesting tale with musical influences from Hamilton, Rent and Dear Evan Hansen. Ellie Heyman directed Afloat and nicely staged the sailing imagery on a shoe-string budget. As a work in development, only the completed first act was presented. The ending was dramatically very strong. A few adjustments to storytelling and tone might help balance the slightly awkward combination of musical comedy, exciting adventure and cautionary, dark parable. There’s a bigger show here and I hope to see it one day.