DRAGONS, DOOMSDAY, AND DAZZLE

The Road Theatre Company launches its 34th season with N.T. Vandecar’s Otherkin, a bold, visually stunning new work staged by Christina Carlisi in her directorial premiere. Even when its mythology gets dense, the production keeps you hooked, partly because it looks fantastic, but mostly because it’s anchored by the beating heart of a teenager who insists on defining herself in her own terms.

Andre G. Brown, Arthur Hanket, Stephanie Erb, Justin Lawrence Barnes (lying down)

That teenager is Olive (Nychelle Hawk), a 14-year-old who believes she’s a dragon. Outfitted in Sue Makkoo’s gleaming wings and bright fantasy gear, Olive becomes the center of a story set against nothing less than the end of the world. Three weeks before doomsday, she learns from a trio of Guardians — Fire (Andre G. Brown), Earth (Stephanie Erb), and Water (Arthur Hanket) — that she is the one chosen to save humanity. The play unfolds as a literal countdown, while Olive searches for her biological mother (Erb again, doubling) and deepens her connection with Lucas (Justin Lawrence Barnes) and his husband Darren (Brown), who are navigating their own ideas of family.

Andre G. Brown, Stephanie Erb, and Arthur Hanket

So what exactly is an “Otherkin”? In Vandecar’s hands, it’s less a subculture than a metaphor: a person who feels themselves to be not wholly human, but part dragon, wolf, or other mythical being. For Olive, that means embracing her dragonhood not as delusion but as truth, a way of claiming her identity even in the face of apocalypse.

Nychelle Hawk

The design team goes all in on this dual reality. Justin Kelley-Cahill’s shifting set, Nicholas Santiago’s fluid projections, and Derrick McDaniel’s lighting plunge us from living rooms to spirit realms, often in the blink of an eye. Actors switch costumes and characters with dizzying speed, sometimes right in front of us, underscoring the play’s sense of transformation.

Andre G. Brown, Justin Lawrence Barnes and Stephanie Erb

If Otherkin resists a single interpretation, that seems to be the point. Vandecar doesn’t tell us what to believe, only that belief itself can be a lifeline. Hawk’s Olive makes that case with an openness that’s hard to resist, and the production matches her imagination with a theatricality that leaves room for ours.

Andre G. Brown, Arthur Hanket, Stephanie Erb, Justin Lawrence Barnes (on floor)

photos by Slade Segerson

Otherkin
The Road Theatre Company
NoHo Senior Arts Colony, 10747 Magnolia Blvd. in North Hollywood
Fri and Sat at 8; Sun at 2
ends on November 2, 2025
for tickets ($17-$39), call 818.761.8838 or visit Road Theatre

for more shows, visit Theatre in LA