When you think of Flint, Michigan, the first thing that comes to mind is water. Or rather the water crisis of 2014 which made the city’s water undrinkable for many residents until 2020. But for the director Michael Llubereswho has lived in Flint for six years and runs the Flint Repertory Theater, the city is so much more than this disaster. So when he had the idea to do Stephen Schwartzit’s musical Divine spell and having him set in a working swimming pool, with actors splashing around – it seemed like a natural fit for Flint.
“Flint has a very complicated history and relationship with water. So I thought it could be really beautiful and healing and magical to do something joyful in the water,” he explains. “That’s part of what made me do it: to show the world, to show the country that Flint is actually a beautiful place and the water is very good. Dive.
And the public does it. Flint Rep is a young theater, only six years old, with a modest operating budget of $1.2 million. But Divine spell was its most successful production yet – its initial six-week run to sold-out audiences and the extended two-week show through November 3. And it attracted theater lovers from all over the world. “People come from everywhere to see it, which is crazy,” marvels Lluberes. “They drive about 10 hours. I mean, the response has been overwhelming. Flint Rep is even in talks with larger theaters for an encore engagement.
To clarify: no, this production of Schwartz’s musical, based on the Gospel of Matthew, is not site-specific. Flint Rep does not do this at a local pool. They do it on stage, in a real working swimming pool. The audience sings, dances and exalts Jesus Christ while he is in the water. The front row is the splash zone, or as Lluberes jovially puts it, it’s the baptism zone.
“The show begins with this baptism: John baptizes Jesus,” he explains. “So my thought was: what if this was all a baptism? What if it was all in the water? And it became this theatrical baptism for the public?
And for the actors too. When casting for the show, Lluberes asked the actors if they were comfortable performing for two hours in the water. One of the actors, Gia Mae Chessa (who sings the catchy solo “Bless the Lord”), is a former lifeguard. Talk about transferable skills.
“They have to be these quadruple threats: singers, yes, actors, dancers and swimmers,” he says. Granted, there isn’t much swimming in the show since the pool is four feet deep. But the actors rehearsed in a public swimming pool at the YMCA of Greater Flint, to strengthen their limbs so they could dance underwater, and to train their lungs to be able to dive underwater and then sing when they came back up. They also learned how to work with the props, which are all pool-themed: pool noodles act as canes, colorful diving rings become money, and some acts use buckets, water guns water, floats and rubber ducks.
As Lluberes describes: “We are doing the story of the Good Samaritan using the rubber duck as a little puppet show. The ducks light up. I really wanted it to be fun and silly, and have the audience belly laugh. And then I hope it leads to somewhere transformational and special and beautiful.
As for the pool itself, Flint Rep actually purchased a working 16-foot diameter above-ground pool. The pool is also heated so the cast can stay comfortable. “It’s a self-cleaning pool,” says Lluberes. “We are constantly cleaning and skimming it, and its temperature is constantly monitored.” Lluberes thanks the team of four managers responsible for maintaining the pool: “They secure it, clean it, dry it at intermission. They put a blanket on it. Instead, we invested in industrial dehumidifiers. It was crazy! He then laughs: “We do the show, but we also run a swimming pool. »
On stage, the platform on which the swimming pool is placed looks like tiles but it is actually made of treated wood so that the actors do not slip when they have to go out. To keep the actors comfortable, the temperature in the room is slightly warmer than it normally would be. On the technical side, the actors are not equipped with microphones, but the sound is captured by overhead choir microphones.
But while the actors trained hard to perform in the water, how can they stay healthy with all that humidity, not to mention the chlorine? “Lots of moisturizer,” replies Lluberes. “And earplugs, and they drink electrolytes.”
Aside from possible encore commitments, Lluberes isn’t sure what Flint Rep will do with the pool after the show closes (joking “We’ll have staff meetings in the pool”). But for him, this six-week series exceeded his expectations, both in showing how Flint persevered and grew after the water crisis, and in bringing joy to the audience.
The musical can be called Divine spell,but for Lluberes, the true church is the theater. “The show was never a show about religion,” he says. “I am culturally Jewish, I am not religious at all. This is not a show about religion. This is really not the case. It’s about community. It’s about a group of disparate people coming together and, through telling stories, forming this community. And that’s theater. He then adds: “It’s just fun too. What’s more fun than actors splashing, singing and dancing this incredible score in the water? »