![\"vigilsplayhouse\"](\"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/06\/vigilsplayhouse.JPG\")
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The cast of <\/em>Vigils. Photo by Ben Novotny\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Love, loss and letting go are some of the major themes of Vigils<\/em>, a drama that premiered at the Long Beach Playhouse\u2019s Studio Theatre last Saturday where it will be performed through July 13.<\/p>\n The play, which was written by Noah Haidle and directed by CSULB Theatre Arts alumni Olivia Trevino, is about a young widower (played by Meghan Dillon, another alumni of CSULB\u2019s Theatre Arts program) who is unable to let go of her firefighter husband after he dies trying to save a baby from a burning building.<\/p>\n She puts the soul of her dead husband in a box, where she keeps him for two years after his death. Brian Canup plays the soul of the widower\u2019s husband while Steven Meeks plays the widower\u2019s husband when he\u2019s still alive through flashbacks. Other cast members include Luis Castilleja, who plays a former friend of the husband who is trying to woo the widower, and 10-year old DJ Price, who plays the baby trapped inside the burning building had he grown up.<\/p>\n The entire performance takes place inside the widower\u2019s apartment with no set changes taking place.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe main theme of this play is that life moves on\u201d, said Dillon.\u00a0The play presented a series of challenges for the director and the actors, with the most difficult being the jumps between different time periods.<\/p>\n {loadposition latestlife}\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of repeated memories and knowing where you are in time was a challenge for the actors,\u201d said Trevino. \u201cWhen I first read the play I found a lot of scenes that were repeated so I had to figure out how to differentiate things so that the audience is not watching the same thing over and over.”\u00a0<\/p>\n Despite being a tragedy with some very dramatic themes, Vigils<\/em> also presents a series of comic relief moments for the audience to enjoy.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a very healing play,” said Canup. \u201cNot every play about love and loss is a grim weeper.”<\/p>\n