This story has been updated at 12:25 p.m. on Dec. 4. See the bottom of the article for more details.
The Treehouse Theater Company’s logo does not actually depict a treehouse.
Instead, it illustrates the base of a tree and its spreading roots as they break through a mound of concrete. This image has become symbolic for the budding student-run theater company at UCLA.
“Today, there’s been this large slab of concrete that’s been put over the soil, and our generation and the generation below us have a skewed vision of theater that we don’t really believe is doing it justice,” said Madison Worthington, a fourth-year theater student, founding member of The Treehouse Theater Company and designer of the logo.
Worthington said she interprets the company’s mission statement as continually bringing new life to theater by breaking traditional barriers, which she hopes to do with the upcoming play “This Is Our Youth.”
The Treehouse Theater Company’s approaching show, “This Is Our Youth,” will have an intimate setting: the Treehouse apartment complex on Strathmore Drive. “This Is Our Youth” is fittingly set in an apartment, where three troubled adolescents deal with maturation in their lifestyles of drug dealing, stealing and falling in love.
This revival of Kenneth Lonergan’s play will be hosted at the apartment complex instead of a theater, following the example of site-specific theater set by The Treehouse Theater Company’s only previous show, “Crimes of the Heart.” The show has been indefinitely postponed due to copyright issues.
The seven founders started the company after taking a directing course taught by Angela Scott, a lecturer in the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television. During fall quarter of 2013, then-third-year theater student Gaston Perez directed a scene from “Crimes of the Heart” in Scott’s class.
“We felt good about it, so we wanted to do the whole play. And so that spring, (Perez) directed it and we did it in my living room,” said Valentina Tammaro-Gehley, fourth-year theater student and founding member of the company.
The “Crimes of the Heart” performance was the start of The Treehouse Theater Company, marking its site-specific style of staging plays in realistic spaces, as opposed to auditoriums.
“We’re really interested in architectural consciousness in theater,” Tammaro-Gehley said. “It was as if the audience was a fly on the wall, sitting in our living room with us. It was very immersive, very intimate, very private.”
Worthington said selecting the setting was vital for “This Is Our Youth” as well because the show requires an ambiance associated with wild youth and grunginess. The company’s board of directors wanted the audience members to associate the show’s themes with the real-life atmosphere of the apartment complex, immersing themselves in the same culture as the characters.
“The show is basically about us, people who are 19 to 21, the period of your life where you’re just out of your youth but can’t quite get into adulthood,” said Charlotte Hook, a fourth-year theater student and director of “This Is Our Youth.”
Hook’s directorial debut involved a scene from “This Is Our Youth,” which Hook said inspired her to submit a proposal to direct the entire show for The Treehouse Theater Company. The company’s board approved the proposal, and production began for a show that Hook said will challenge the boundaries between the actors and audience. However, it is not just Hook’s vision; Tammaro-Gehley said that the company prides itself on its collaboration among its 14 members.
“Everyone’s not just one role; we’re all about the ensemble,” Tammaro-Gehley said.
All the founding members have the same amount of power and responsibility, Worthington said, but their roles vary show to show. In the case of “This Is Our Youth,” Worthington controls scenes, costumes and props, while members Brittany Cobb, a fifth-year theater student, and Nick Bell, a fourth-year theater student, work the lighting and sound, respectively. The remaining members of the board are producers.
Worthington said The Treehouse Theater Company accepts new proposals by directors on its website, which is the first step to instigate a new show. From there, the company posts opportunities on its website and Facebook page regarding auditions for the cast and interviews for design roles.
“We are ready to take the reins in our own hands and we realize that this is what we’re going to be doing once we graduate, so we’re ready to do it on our own,” Worthington said.
Tammaro-Gehley said the company is not necessarily going to stay at UCLA after the founders graduate, but will instead move with them and hopefully expand to new places and spaces.
As The Treehouse Theater Company grows, Worthington said she aspires to preserve the logo’s deep symbolism.
“We’re the company that will support your project,” Worthington said. “The logo doesn’t have a treehouse in it because we’re constantly rebuilding it. … It’s for people that want to work with us, to come to us and show us what the treehouse looks like and we’ll hold it up.”
Update: “This is Our Youth” was postponed indefinitely for copyright issues after the publication of this article.