Setting the stage: Area man produces show about bat boy

By Casey Gillis

Published: September 1, 2008

The first time Dustin Williams read “Bat Boy: The Musical,” he just didn’t get it.

“It’s a weird show,” says the Appomattox native and Lynchburg College grad.

The musical is based on the 1992 “Weekly World News” story about a half-boy, half-bat. You’ve probably seen the picture: a pointy-eared, bug-eyed little boy howling next to the headline, “Bat child found in cave.”

The story picks up just as Bat Boy is found, and follows him as he acclimates to human life and is, eventually, persecuted for being different.

“It took me like the fourth time reading it, and I just went, ‘This is really brilliant,’” says Williams, who was attracted to the show’s heart.

“It’s about acceptance,” he says. “Acceptance of yourself and acceptance of others. Bat Boy is what’s different in each of us. It’s saying, ‘Embrace yourself. Love yourself.’”

Williams’ production of “Bat Boy” is scheduled to premiere at 7 p.m. Sept. 10 at Heritage High School’s Pioneer Theatre (see below for details).
He decided to direct the show after moving back to the area last year.

The idea quickly evolved into the creation of an entire theater company — something Williams had dreamed of doing since the theater bug bit him during his senior year of high school. (He went on to major in theater at Lynchburg College and studied at the William Esper Studio for Acting in New York).

Wolfbane Productions is named after a poem, about the plant’s transformative properties, which is read in his favorite childhood movie, “The Wolf Man”: “Even a man who is pure of heart/and says his prayers by night/may become a wolf when the wolf bane blooms/and the Autumn moon is bright.”

“Our goal is transformation (for) not only ourselves onstage but also our audience,” says Williams, 25.

He wants Wolfbane to be a place where people come together to create innovative, daring works.

After “Bat Boy’s” run ends, Williams is going out to Los Angeles, where he hopes to build his acting resume. But he wants Wolfbane to go on even when he’s not here.

“Theater is, I think, the last form of magic that’s real in the world. You put people in a room and suddenly … they’re in another world,” he says. “It can change people. It speaks to people, and it affects people.”

“Bat Boy” has already done that for him.

“You can look in his eyes and see how giddy and excited he is (about it),” says Aaron Farr, Williams’ friend and production manager. “He has a raw passion for the show.”

Williams is directing a cast of 12 professional actors, seven of whom take on multiple roles. Farr, for example, is playing five different townspeople.

The other actors are the play’s five main characters: Bat Boy, the sheriff and the family that takes care of him.

“Everyone is just perfect (for their roles), and they’re right on board,” Williams says. “Everyone is as gung-ho as I am. I think the audience will buy into that.”

Finding a venue proved to be his biggest challenge. Most local theaters were already booked up with their own seasons, so Williams and Farr began looking at nontraditional spaces, like parking garages and open fields.

Williams was about to give up on the production entirely when he got back in touch with Pioneer Theatre Director Larry Hart, who told Williams he could use the space and even offered his students’ help backstage.

It’s a win-win for everyone involved, Williams says. The Heritage students get in-the-field experience with a professional production, and Williams gets free technical support.

“It’s a really tech-heavy show,” he says. “It’s got a lot of effects and a lot of backstage elements.”

As far as the action onstage, Williams says the play has some very funny, random moments but is ultimately a tragedy.

“It kind of wins the audience by taking (it) along on this roller coaster,” he says.

“It’s something that needs to be told.”

If you’re going:
WHAT: ‘Bat Boy: The Musical’
WHEN: 7 p.m. Sept. 10, 11, 12 and 13
WHERE: Heritage High School’s Pioneer Theatre
TICKETS: $12 general admission and $10 for seniors and students. The show includes some violence and adult situations and is recommended for teenaged audiences and older.
INFO: http://www.wolfbaneproductions.org/shows.htm