The inspiration for a theater production about a brother and sister caring for their father at the end of his life is not exactly autobiographical for Staunton’s Davey White.
He describes “Dad’s Original Tangy BBQ Sauce” as a mosaic, because everything a writer creates comes from their life in some way.
“And, to make art, you smash it and reconfigure it to make sense in a different way,” White said.
In recent years, he experienced several key deaths of loved ones and friends, and observed that individuals can turn vicious toward each other when someone is dying.
“I think this play attacks that idea of that feeling of conflict and territoriality about someone dying without being specifically autobiographical. It’s looking at that moment where two siblings are trying to wear the legacy of their family and not be generous with ‘but this is dad to me, ‘but this is dad to me and you don’t know dad to me and I don’t know dad to you,'” White said.
“Ollie” and “Aggatha” are brother and sister. Their mother died eight years earlier and now haunts “Ollie.”
Known for his puppet creatures in downtown Staunton productions, White also stars in the production as “Ollie” with longtime friend Deb Seif. They met years ago in Philadelphia and she directed his first production out of graduate school in 2003. Ironically, they reconnected a few years ago after White was visiting Staunton and he did not know that Seif was living in Staunton. He thought she was living in Los Angeles.
White wrote the play specifically “to get into some theater trouble” and for himself and Seif to portray brother and sister together because their friendship in real life mimics a brother and sister relationship. A play with only two characters on stage, according to White, allows the brother and sister to battle for a story on stage.
“Every family has something that is legendary,” White said.
Their father had a successful restaurant business with a secret recipe for BBQ sauce, and, with him at death’s door, the siblings are fighting over who gets the recipe. “Ollie” owns a restaurant in Oregon and wants his sister to come work with him.
“It’s this great play that’s full of these like Davey-style problems, which is one of the things I love about Davey’s writing. He doesn’t solve it for you, he puts these problems out there like ‘Ollie’ becomes dad. So, what does that mean? Do you do a costume change?” said director Catharine Slusar, who lives in Philadelphia where she is an award-winning actor.
She said she and the actors are working on staging for both characters so that they can also depict their parents on stage.
According to Slusar, the audience is really important for the production because their attention will be part of the story and she keeps that in mind as she directs Seif and White.
“So how the audience gives its attention and how the audience follows the story through becomes part of the story, and so we’re just trying to gently direct them without ever saying ‘oh this is what we’re doing,'” Slusar said.
Slusar and the actors made a choice that “Ollie” and “Aggatha” grew up play acting and pretending they were their parents.
“I hope what the play ends up doing is inviting the audience a little bit into ‘what is inheritance and what is legacy?’” Slusar said.
Slusar said that she thinks parents should help their children prepare for the inevitability of death. American culture does not allow for comfortable discussion about death. She considers “Dad’s Original Tangy BBQ Sauce” a sort of allegory for poorly planned death and the worst case scenario of what can happen.
Slusar and the actors hope that the production creates questions for them to think and talk about.
“In some ways, it’s a modern-day [Edgar Allan] Poe story. It’s gruesome,” Slusar said of White’s production. And audience members can expect what they did not expect.
White said his story feels like a Southern Gothic, and flattered by a comparison with Poe, the production does contain humor, which he appreciates about Poe’s work.
Local singer and member of Shenandoah Cabaret Diana Black provides the voice of “Ollie’s” mother and serves as stage manager. Zach Laliberte provides lights and tech arrangement.
At approximately 70 minutes, “Dad’s Original Tangy BBQ Sauce” is intended for mature audiences only for language and suggested violence.
The production will be performed on the second floor at Queen City Music Studios, 16 W. Beverley St., Staunton, Wednesday, July 16 to Saturday, July 19 and Wednesday, July 23 to Saturday, July 26. All shows are at 7 p.m. Tickets are available online.
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Rebecca Barnabi
