Former Northwest Academy Student Hits the Stage

Marisol Ceballos, a former student of Northwest Academy, is starring in the play In The Forest, She Grew Fangs, put on by defunkt theatre. The play is a spin-off of “Little Red Riding Hood” that combines supernatural elements with a story of teenage bullying.

“I’ve been fascinated by this play since the moment I heard about it,” Ceballos said. “The script is amazing. [Writer] Stephen Spotswood blends the language of storytelling with the harsh language of bullying.”

Ceballos stars as Lucy, a bullied outsider.

“I play two distinct characters as Lucy transforms from bullied to bully,” Ceballos said. “Through the first half, I play a junior in high school who views herself as a child and has an elaborate fantasy world in her head.”

Ceballos shared that Lucy is bullied and misunderstood by the people around her, such as her peers, teachers, and her grandmother.

“Throughout the second half, Lucy starts her slow transformation into the wolf, a confident, animalistic, older version of Lucy who has a hard time understanding the implications of violence,” Ceballos said.

The play takes place in a small rural town where Lucy lives with her grandmother and spends much of her time wandering in the forest.

“Lucy is a delight to portray,” Ceballos said. “Lucy speaks to the audience in the language of fairy tales, but she also shares a crippling awkwardness when she interacts with others, which most teens can relate to. In playing her, I get to explore a more commanding and violent part of myself in a healthy way and safe setting.”

Andrew Klaus-Vineyard, the director of In The Forest, She Grew Fangs, said that he knew Ceballos was the right actress for the part from the first moment he saw her.

“Her audition stood out to me as someone with grace and power but also able to access vulnerability and kindness, all qualities Lucy must have to take the audience on this journey,” Klaus-Vineyard said. “Marisol is willing to give 100% all the time and wants to understand all the motivations and possible outcomes for her character. She feels a responsibility to tell the story honestly and it shows every night on stage.”

Ceballos first became interested in defunkt theatre after seeing their production of Let A Hundred Flowers Bloom last winter. After being told that its upcoming show would be about teenagers, she decided to audition.

“Working with defunkt is a great experience,” Ceballos said. “This whole process allowed me to grow and develop in different ways, as a professional and as a person.”

Ceballos said that she hopes to return to Northwest Academy next September as a junior but is using this break from school to focus on her art.

“These first few months have been mostly devoted to theater,” Ceballos said. “I developed Lucy into a person, and took her into the world, which I would not have had the opportunity to do with school’s rigorous time schedule.”

While attending Northwest Academy, Ceballos was active in its theater program. Wade Willis, the school’s theater director, hopes that she will continue to participate if she returns next year.

“One of the things that I really enjoy about teaching is watching students go from being timid about the choices they make as artists to becoming more and more free and willing to explore a bit more and take risks,” Willis said. “Marisol really kind of epitomizes that.”

In The Forest, She Grew Fangs opened on October 10, 2014, and will close on November 15. Tickets are available online for $15-$25. It shows at the Backdoor Theatre on 4319 SE Hawthorne Blvd., Portland, OR.

– Reporting by Chelsea Batchelor and Gilian Foley