Interview: Jacob Hemsath of FRANK-N-FRIEND at Casa Mañana

In Mary Shelley's 1818 novel Frankenstein, the Creature-after having escaped his overly ambitious creator Victor Frankenstein-takes shelter near a lone hut and is touched by the love of the family that lives inside. "My heart yearned to be known and loved by these amiable creatures," he later tells Frankenstein," to see their sweet looks directed towards me with affection was the utmost limit of my ambition." Many people share these desires, to love and to be loved in return, especially kids and teenagers thrown into wildly different circumstances from what they're used to. When these perils of the playground combine with the creatures of the Gothic and the humor of a good laugh shared among friends, the new musical FRANK-N-FRIEND comes to life, making its world premiere at Casa Mañana and running January 31-February 16.

FRANK-N-FRIEND tells the story of Oliver (played by Jacob Hemsath), a boy genius tackling his first few days at a new school while making some new cool friends along the way. That is until Butch, the school bully, catches up with Oliver. With his intelligence and the help of a supercomputer, Oliver and his friends create Frank-N-Friend: the fastest, strongest, and coolest protector a kid has ever built. As the musical progresses, the definitions of what makes a bully become blurred as Frank-N-Friend shares what it truly means to be a friend to others.

With opening night just days away, I sat down with Jacob Hemsath to talk about taking part in a world-premiere production as well as what he hopes audiences of all ages take away from the material.

So this isn't your first big production in the DFW area; you've done shows such as NEWSIES and SPRING AWAKENING. But this show is a kind of Dallas milestone for you.

Jacob Hemsath (JH): Yeah, this is my first production in Dallas as a leading role, though this is one of the smaller casts I've worked with, so everyone gets a share of the spotlight. It's an exciting challenge to be taking on a role that's such a crucial driver of the action of the show.

How's the rehearsal process been in that regard?

JH: I'm actually really lucky. I've performed before with one of the other actors before, and he's now playing one of my best friends in FRANK-N-FRIEND, so it's been nice to start the process of with having that relationship already well established. One of the challenges for this show in particular, though, is starting the rehearsal process with all of our lines (almost) completely memorized and having at least a basic idea of how we want to construct our characters. And once we started rehearsals, we basically had two weeks until opening night, so it was a really intensive but really rewarding process.

And this is a world premiere original work too, so I imagine that also presents some challenges that you wouldn't necessarily have when rehearsing a more established show.

JH: Oh, it's been wild. All of us walking into the audition room had no idea what the script would look like and only a basic idea of the plot.

Has there been a lot of tinkering with the script between auditions and rehearsals, or have the writers made changes once rehearsals started?

JH: We received our final draft of the script about a week before rehearsals started. We received an initial draft after we were all cast, but some little things needed to be changed here and there. But the overall structure and characters of the show were clearly defined. That being said, the writers have said we still might tweak some stuff in the rehearsal room as they and the director see for themselves what translates from page to stage.

But still to be the first person to play this role in a world premiere production, I imagine it's really exciting to be a part of this character's growth and contributing your own interpretation of this role to the process.

JH: Absolutely, and I think we've all felt that excitement too, especially since these kids are all such dynamic characters. The bully who picks on Oliver actually hates being a called a bully, and he sings this whole song about how upset he gets when people label him as the bully. So all of these characters have layers; all of them are humanized in some way so that they're not your typical after-school special stereotypes.

I also wanted to ask: you're not just an actor but an arts educator as well, and a lot of your students are the same age as a lot of the kids who will be in the audience during this show. How has your role as a teacher affected the way you approach the show?

JH: Well I think this also ties into the humanization of the characters that we were just talking about, especially when it comes to Butch, the bully. As an educator, you can tell when one student is being mean to another or when a student is being teased or bullied, but it's not always as simple as saying "okay you're the bully and you're the victim." You have to learn both sides of story in terms of, well, what's going on in that "bully's" life that might be causing him to act out like that? How can I make sure the person being bullied has the resources to work through their own pain and embarrassment?

So it helps me to take that sympathy and bring it to the show as a way of showing the growth of Oliver's compassion and understanding. Because the show really is nothing without that growth, and it's important for kids to see that it's okay to admit you're wrong, it's okay to develop and change over time.

And I love that because kids especially at that age-and many adults, honestly-latch on to this black-and-white way of thinking where someone is either in one category or the other but they can't be in between and they can't be a little of both. And I feel like there are so many anti-bullying shows that are just about a kid learning to stand up to a bully and then he or she wins and there's a happy ending. But this doesn't quite fit that formula.

JH: Not at all. The audience sees that Butch feels as beat down and bullied as Oliver does. And showing both sides of that conflict, I think, helps start to break down those false binaries, those "either-or" ways of thinking. In that way, the musical doesn't have a clear antagonist, and it's really about how all of these kids become protagonists for change in their world.

And so I hope that kids come into this show, and they see someone that they can relate to. You know, Oliver is the nerdy whiz-kid, his best friend Michael is the silly ditz, and Oliver's other friend Kendra is the friendly go-getter. But they're also a lot more than these stereotypes, too, and friendships are made that you wouldn't normally expect to be made in a show like this. And just like all of these characters have their moments in the spotlight, I hope kids in the audience know that they deserve to have a share in that spotlight too while being supportive of their friends who are also trying to achieve their own goals. Those are the skills that really help to bring positive changes to life.

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