Being an emotional teenager; having problems at school; having an imaginary friend: These are things many young people can relate to. Teenage pregnancy? Having a weird older boyfriend? Not so much. These, however, are topics that “Mustard”, written by Kat Sandler and performed by North Lake Campus Theater Department, explores.
“It’s a play. The way I see it, [it’s] about the fear of growing up,” said Camilio Ramos, who plays Mustard, “I enjoyed that theme because I want to believe I’m still a kid inside. “
“Mustard” is a play that deals with the conflicts of growing up in a broken home, mental health and the strategies used to try to cope with difficult situations. Thai (Nicolle Lopez) is the main character. She is a 16-year-old girl who is struggling in the aftermath of her father walking out on her and her mom, Sadie (Gillian Lange).
“I’m playing a teenager now, and I can’t relate to Thai, like that much,” said Nicolle Lopez, who plays Thai. “It’s really challenging, but I like that. I like to be put out of my comfort zone.”
Thai copes by using her imaginary friend Mustard who is referred to in the show as a “Boone.” Thai is a “troubled” teen who is constantly getting into fights and has a much older boyfriend, Jay (Emiliano Rosas). Throughout the show, we watch Thai as she navigates the difficult situations she has gotten herself into, such as fighting with her mom and getting pregnant.
On the other side of the house, Sadie is still in shock and refusing to sign divorce papers almost a year after her husband left her. She tries to cope using pills, alcohol and struggling to move on. In the beginning of the play, Sadie attempts suicide, which is interrupted by Mustard, who until then, could not be seen by anyone but Thai. Sadie is shocked and believes she is going insane. Mustard is confused as to why she can see him. From that moment on, Mustard starts trying to date Sadie, who is still convinced she is going insane due to the mixing of the pills and alcohol. (Maybe add a reference as to why this is funny?)
“Dallas College [North Lake] is very notorious for doing comedies, and I feel “Mustard” is a comedy, however, it has serious themes in it too. It’s not just all funny,” said Alyssa Hicks, stage manager. “There’s serious moments where it tugs at your heart a bit, and I feel like that’s definitely different.”
Throughout the play, there were brief interruptions to the main plot by characters Bug (Jamiah Taylor) and Leslie (Sam Nuckolls), who are trying to hunt Mustard down and force him to go to the Booneswallows, the place where Boones go when they are no longer needed by their people.
The play ends with Sadie finally deciding to sign the divorce papers and leave her ex-husband, Thai deciding that she can handle the future by herself and Mustard leaving to go to the Booneswallows, with the assurance that Thai and Sadie are going to be okay on their own.
After a successful five-show run, one thing is for sure: “Mustard” ushered in a new era for the North Lake Theater Program.
“I think that our program itself, is evolving. We did a very big jump from when I joined this program,” said Ramos. “It’s beautiful to see what this program has become,”
“Mustard” was the first play North Lake Campus has put on since the start of the new technical theater certification program. This program expanded theater at North Lake, which now offers advanced classes in stage craft, costuming and makeup, sound and light board design and operation in addition to the acting classes that were already here.
“It’s beautiful having more students involved in the tech department because when I joined there was not much, and now we have backstage people, we have assistant stage managers, we got designers, so North Lake is in good hands right now,” said Ramos.
