By Samantha Paul
@samantha_alexx
On January 28, 1986, millions watched on, both at home and on the ground, as the Challenger Space Shuttle took flight. This would be a historic moment, as on board, American teacher Christa McAullife would be the first civilian to go to space. However, the Challenger launch became a historic moment for an entirely different reason, as 73 seconds later, the spacecraft exploded mid-air.
Emmy-winning playwright Jane Anderson’s Defying Gravity focuses on the Challenger incident and the stories of bystanders touched by the disaster. Additionally, professor of Theater Arts and Defying Gravity director Martin Shell selected this inspiring, yet grief-filled story to be his final production with Springfield College Theater.
“It has a good, strong heart and it’s about people reaching beyond limitations, reaching beyond tragedy and getting through stuff about surviving,” Shell said about the play. “Even though it’s rooted in a sad, tragic incident, it’s funny, it’s moving and I think combines things in a way that’s uplifting.”
The teacher — a character based on McAuliffe and played by Honors Program professor Becky Lartigue — educates her students on the history of man trying to reach the stars; her own infatuation with the celestial leading her to NASA’s Teacher in Space Project.
The teacher’s daughter Elizabeth — portrayed by first-year student Dikshya Upadhyaya as both a five-year-old and 25-year-old — can’t understand her mother’s desire to go to space and embodies the anger and confusion of the grieving process.
The complexity of these characters is not easy to capture, but each actor in the ensemble spoke highly of Shell, his ability to direct, lead and execute a production that moves an audience.
Chelsea Corr-Limoges, assistant professor of Environmental Science and Defying Gravity’s Betty, thanked Shell in the company program for, “continually inspiring her to reach higher and push new boundaries”.
“It was a rollercoaster of emotions and I was unsure if I could handle it, but it was amazing,” Upadhyaya added after the final showing on Sunday afternoon. “Working with Martin, I feel like it’s a part of his legacy that I can take with me and give to others. When I get onto the stage, when I’m auditioning, I don’t have to be perfect… but along the way, I turn into Elizabeth, that’s what Martin does, he’s the magic.”
After 30 years and 60 shows directed on Alden Street, Springfield College Theater will feel Shell’s absence deeply. Shell says he will miss directing and acting with the College equally as much, particularly because he must walk away from the wonderful company he works with.
“The students I get to work with and the faculty that join us in some productions… really give it their all, they show up and they end up showing more and more of themselves as they learn the play and I’ve always learned from that,” Shell said proudly. “I have an opportunity to see people grow and develop their own expressive skills and their own sense of what it is to be a human being. That’s the most rewarding thing.”
Luckily, Shell plans to continue educating in the classroom, imparting the “magic” to his Theater Arts students. As a play that beautifully explores the intersection of sadness and understanding, Defying Gravity is fitting as Shell’s final Springfield College Theater production.
Photo courtesy of Springfield College Flickr