‘From Up Here’ pulls audience’s heart strings

By Mary-Simone Collazo

Kenny is in serious trouble. He may be a 17-year-old high school senior, but now, he is not allowed to drive or leave the house without adult accompaniment, or arrive on school premises without getting his backpack searched.

 The real kicker? He has to give a televised apology to his entire school for what he did.

Why? Kenny was getting bullied. He retaliated, or at least, he tried to. Now that the dust has settled, his family has to learn to live with this new “normal.”

The brave, heart-wrenching show “From Up Here” ran from Feb. 27 through March 1, and I caught the Saturday night performance on Feb. 28. From the very first scene, I was transported into the show’s little world. 

I went into this show almost completely blind, which is the absolute antithesis of how I normally operate. I like to do thorough research before deciding to consume any piece of media. However, when I saw the online promotion for “From Up Here,” something in me said to walk into the Bart Luedeke Center Theater and enjoy the ride. And wow, am I glad I did.

The show’s  lead, Kenny, played by junior acting major Cale Bianchino, is a withdrawn teenager with an unintentionally blunt sense of humor. He finds solace in the videos and postcards sent by his bubbly aunt Caroline, played by junior acting major Trinity Babino, an adventurous young woman with no roots, spending her life mountain climbing from country to country, living out of her backpack. When aunt Caroline visits home for the first time in years, a wrench is thrown into the new “normal” routine.

While Kenny keeps to himself, his household is bustling with an array of outspoken characters: Lauren, his strong-willed, sharp-tongued younger sister, played by junior acting major Sarah Hyman; Daniel, his patient and goofy new stepdad, played by junior acting major Brian Tobin; and Grace, his loving, yet stressed and overbearing mother played by junior acting major Elizabeth Holzworth. 

Every cast member fully embodied their characters, to the point I almost forgot I was watching a production. 

Bianchino was the true definition of a star in the role of Kenny. I could not help but root for him the entire time, with how sweet and straightforward he was. The actor’s comedic timing was impeccable in Kenny’s moments of bluntness.

But it was the portrayal of Kenny’s mental state that tugged on my heartstrings. In a pivotal scene, Kenny is overwhelmed at everything occurring in the home and at school. When his mother Grace reaches out to comfort him, he pulls down his beanie over his eyes, bursting into tears and crying “Leave me alone!” Bianchino bared his soul with that delivery — I could see his body shake and his face turn red from my spot in the audience, driving me to tears.

Bianchino said he and Director Ivan Fuller, a professor of theatre at Rider, both inferred from their first reading of the script that Kenny was on the autism spectrum. This was confirmed on a phone call they had with the playwright, Liz Flahive. Bianchino made sure to highlight this in his portrayal. 

“My relationship with Kenny was a little more close to home because my sister has autism … Taking on that kind of role for me was very near and dear to the heart … Seeing that real-life journey of hers kind of fueled my ability to get into the headspace of Kenny,” Bianchino said.

I have to give flowers where they are deserved, and the two other performances of the night that struck me the most were Holzworth as Grace, and junior acting major Phillip Schneller as Kenny’s school peer, Charlie. 

Holzworth expertly walked the delicate tightrope of portraying a loving mom trying to keep it all together. Her character’s eventual break, and her subsequent monologue, had me captivated.

Schneller was an absolute delight as scene-stealer Charlie, the “nicest kid in school” who attempts to win the affections of Kenny’s sister, Lauren. His impromptu songs and unhinged conversation topics brought some much-needed comic relief to the stage. The audience was roaring with laughter whenever Charlie was present; I myself doubled over several times. 

The combination of elements in the theater’s environment made me feel like a fly on the wall with the characters’ interactions.

Part of the immersion into the story was thanks to the set design. The main set and the kitchen had a fully-stocked fridge with real food and drinks and black chairs around a white-clothed dining room table. 

Whenever aunt Caroline was scaling a mountain, a ladder was her peak, and beautifully painted clouds-on-a-blue-sky panels hung all over the back of the stage.

The setting that attracted my attention the most, though, was the school dance scene. A simple table in the back with an inflatable pineapple under orange and green lighting let us know we were at a Hawaiian lūʻau-themed event, minus “Dynamite” by Taio Cruz being the background music.

The sound crew deserves a shout-out as well. I was thoroughly impressed with the quality of the mics, and heard every word clearly. I also applaud the strategically-placed speakers at various locations on the stage to utilize sound effects in a realistic manner, from the heartbeat heard center stage when Kenny was anxious to the transition sounds of students chattering in the hallway reverberating during scene changes. 

With a stellar cast, a simple yet effective set design, a crisp sound catalogue and a message of having hope and kindness in the face of the most brutal events, “From Up Here” at Rider is a play I would happily pay to see over and over again. 

Mary-Simone Collazo is a junior journalism major