Pig Iron Theatre Company presents Dan Rothenberg and Robert Quillen Camp’s Franklin’s Key

This is a family show, in the spirit of ST, Percy Jackson, or Harry Potter. Not coincidentally, the magic and visual effects are by Skylar Fox, whose credits include Harry Potter & the Cursed Child, plus Back to the Future, Cats: The Jellicle Ball, and local favorite Fat Ham. The score, by Rosie Langabeer, nods at these other genre hits but strikes its own driving tone that matches the magic effects and Dave Tennent’s video projections to create an immersive cloud that is not what you would expect to find in the old bones of the Plays and Players Theatre.

It’s the script by Dan Rothenberg and Robert Quillen Camp that provides the framework for all of this, and places the actors at the center. The tone is light, the dialogue funny. A note on the door of the theater warns of flashing lights but adds “If this were a movie, it would be PG.” It runs two hours, including a 15-minute intermission.

A fantastical Philly adventure

Temple (Jameka Monet Wilson) is desperate to win a science competition for reasons that are hidden at first. Wilson manages the required jargon, at the same time coming across like a real teen struggling to find her place and protect her brother. Alton Alburo, as her brother Arturo, is the comic sidekick with unappreciated talents of his own, and he manages the balance of cluelessness and rising-to-the-occasion required. Michael A. Stahler is Richard, the ex who’s dragged back in as Temple and Arturo hunt for a powerful artifact and draw the attention of a secret society.

Then there’s Alice Yorke as Dr. Prentiss and Chris Thorn as Fordhook, the two adults in the room. The characters are a bit stereotypical for the genre (one realizes Temple is smarter, one is the villain—but which?), and what’s required of the actors is more on the level of a Christmas Panto, but York and Thorn chew the scenery in small, delicate nibbles.

The power of collaboration

There’s a lot of physical action; it’s hard to tell how much is from the direction by Rothenberg and co-director Eva Steinmetz, and how much is from movement director Chelsea Murphy. The actors are never secondary to the effects. This might be the only show this season where everyone in the program is clearly represented on stage at some point. The moral of the story (not to spoil the plot) is that we do our best work when we involve others, which seems to have been Pig Iron’s charter for this show.

Before the opening curtain, Rothenberg, Quinn Bauriedel, and Steinmetz came onstage to speak about their founding co-artistic director, Dito van Riegersberg, who had been scheduled to appear in the recent revival of Poor Judge, a show he co-created, before withdrawing for medical challenges. Van Riegersberg passed away suddenly on June 1; Pig Iron remembers him here. After ending on a moment of silence, the lights and music and dance began. On with the show.

Rothenberg has described Franklin’s Key as a “message in a bottle for our kids,” which, when you get down to it, is what any good show is. And this is a good show.

Thanks for reading BSR! If you value this review, be sure to subscribe to our free newsletter and don’t miss the next one. There’s never a paywall at BSR, and you can join the donors who keep our journalism accessible.