Ariam Tavarez Caimares ’26, the lead in Merrimack College’s Department of Visual and Performing Arts’ production of “A Wrinkle in Time,” said she couldn’t be more different than the character she is playing.
“Meg Murry, is a bit hotheaded, a stubborn kid,” said Tavarez Caimares. “She’s always angry but I don’t think it’s always her fault. I made it a point in my life to be very well-behaved. I’ve never gotten in trouble like Meg gets in trouble. She is very determined though, which I admire. Me, I’m more of a scaredy cat.”
The play, adapted from Madeleine L’Engle’s classic young adult novel, sees Murry traveling through time and space to rescue her father imprisoned on a far-away planet. Staged at the Rogers Center for the Arts, there will be 7:30 p.m. showings Thursday, Nov. 9, through Saturday, Nov. 11, as well as a 2 p.m. matinee on Friday, Nov. 10.
“It’s about this young girl who feels like she doesn’t quite fit in with the kids she goes to school with,” explained Associate Professor Kathleen Sills, the production’s director. “There’s all these expectations that everyone has for her. Through the process of going on this journey…she comes to find that she in fact has these unique gifts.”
In addition to current students, six Merrimack alumni are cast in the show.
“Them working together is unique,” said Sills. “I’ve just been thrilled because I feel like the alums who are in the cast are such good examples of really high work ethic and professionalism. High school theater is often very different than college. It’s often a little more loose. It’s good having the alumni because they’re sort of modeling how (college productions are).”
Claire Kinton ’12, who plays the mysterious Mrs. Who, said she hasn’t taken the stage in 10 years and really missed acting.
“‘A Wrinkle in Time’ was one of my favorite books as a kid,” she said. “And I loved working with Kathleen when I was an undergraduate. I’ve had so much fun getting back into acting – especially with such a fun part. It’s also a bit surreal being back on the same stage with the same director, but it’s been a blast.”
Sills has a long history with “A Wrinkle in Time,” not just from when she first read the book when she was 10 years old, but playwright James Sie premiered his adaptation through the theater company Sills founded back in 1990.
“I started a theater company in Chicago in 1982 called Lifeline Theater,” recalled Sills. “When I saw (the final show) I had already moved out to Boston a few months prior. I just thought it was beautiful and I said, ‘I want to direct that someday.’ I had no idea it would be 33 years later.”
