Miss You Like Hell, Woodstock Arts, March 8-24, 2024

Performance on Saturday, March 9, 2024

Perfectionism is a ruthless adversary not worth fighting against. Miss You Like Hell, produced by Woodstock Arts, was not perfect, but there is praise to be sung for its boldness, passion and messaging. 

Woodstock Arts’ main indoor theater is a repurposed church, which makes for great audience seating capabilities, but perhaps limits their staging and acoustic capabilities. However, their stage is sizable, making the directorial choice to bring the actors into the audience feel unnecessary. I understand that it’s fun, that it feels interactive to have the cast mingle with the audience, but it also cheapens the production, making it seem like action must be taken off the stage in order to be interesting. This heartfelt story was extremely interesting and relevant, and the talented actors should have stayed onstage where they deserve to be.

However, there were a handful of successful moments with staging being brought into the crowd, namely during the turtle’s mercy kill. 

The Ensemble cast really made this show. From the opening scene, they are captivating and delightful to watch. 

The Ensemble’s dancing, stage presence and energy brought life to the partially barren stage, which was mostly decorated with simple stage pieces. Understandably so, as this story follows the main characters on a road trip with multiple stops and settings along the way. Fluid set pieces were the correct choice. 

Hopeful that Isaac Breiding and Talanya Beckford appear again soon in another production where we can see their lovely smiling faces and fluid dance moves. 

Costume team lead Cindy Flanders shone with the Ensemble’s costumes. Maybe this is a bias based on an affinity for earth tones, but their neutral costumes were perfect an aesthetic and effective choice. 

Dani Ramos played Olivia, a depressed teenager who loves her mom but struggles with the abandonment caused by her spotty presence in her life. Ramos embodied her well, portraying the complexities of adolescent heartbreak and never skipping an opportunity to bring the angst to level 10, though sometimes her volume could’ve stayed at about level 8 or 9. 

Since texting and social media are a routine part of everyone’s lives, they are a challenge to make visually interesting onstage. The projections and graphic design used were creative and helpful to advance the story along. The role of Olivia’s internet relationships was a relatable and familiar way to tie her inner thoughts to her actions. At one point, the Ensemble danced with their phones in their hands, which also felt familiar and relatable.

As Olivia and her mother, Beatriz, travel together they struggle to find an appropriate way to communicate. Beatriz, played by Samantha Heuwagen, is very aloof, seemingly not taking her situation or her daughter’s trauma too seriously. Olivia is the opposite, feeling everything very deeply and personally and using books to escape her reality. Beatriz is rather harsh with her, criticizing her appearance, life choices and melodramatic attitude. This led to fights between the two, and it hurt to watch Beatriz walk out of the hotel room, immediately after watching their fight about how she abandoned Olivia. 

This story touches on pain caused by distance, either physical or emotional. Also very literal, as Beatriz is an undocumented immigrant awaiting judgment on her “d-word.” 

They sing, “The distance of love is the cruelest of borders,” which encapsulates the emotional struggle between mother and daughter and the tangible struggle to maintain their physical proximity. 

Woodstock Arts gracefully tackled a pressing issue through this production - immigration and the separation of families at the Mexican-American border. First performed in 2016, this play was released during the peak of America’s haunting “Build the Wall” cultural rivalry between citizens and noncitizens. 

Director, Tyshawn Gooden writes in his Director’s note, “What makes this show absolutely beautiful to me is the overarching theme of Political vs. Personal and how this show rides that intersection of those two ideas and also how those themes both collide and create the friction that comes when those ideas occupy the same space.”

Personal versus political is an all-too-familiar battle in the minds of most Americans. Beatriz recites the oath she hopes to one day have the opportunity to take to earn her citizenship. “True faith and allegiance,” is a key aspect of gaining citizenship, as well as a key (missing?) component of her relationship with her daughter. 

Personally, most people feel for the families and children caught at the border. Politically, some may believe they deserve it for attempting to obtain residency illegitimately. On both sides, there are people. People who yearn for closeness, connection and allegiance. People who want what everyone wants - safety and peace. 

The themes of patriotism in this show are interesting and handled well. We spend time admiring the beauty of Yellowstone National Park, then enjoy authentic Mexican cuisine. Themes of duality, conflict and compromise leave the audience wrestling with themselves, as most people do when faced with strong moral dilemmas and questioning national allegiance. 

Do we forgive? Were we abandoned? Is what is legal what is right? 

Is one side right and the other side wrong? Can we be both?

Can we ever be perfect?