"Between the Lines," by mother-daughter team Jodi Picoult and Samantha van Leer, invites audiences to rewrite their story
NEW YORK -- The Off-Broadway musical "Between the Lines" is in its final weeks.
CBS2's Alice Gainer spoke with cast members and the mother-daughter duo who wrote the book the show is based on. They say the performance is for anyone looking to flip their own script.
In "Between the Lines," Delilah, played by Arielle Jacobs, finds her escape in her favorite book.
"She doesn't feel like she fits in. Her parents just got separated, she's getting bullied at school, and so she really wants to escape," Jacobs told Gainer.
As she reads, she connects with one of the characters, Prince Oliver, who comes to life.
"As soon as you look beyond the surface of Oliver, he's just this, like, goofy labradoodle of a person and he desperately wants out of his story," said Jake David Smith, who plays the prince.
"What would that look like? A relationship between this reader, who just wants into his fairytale world, and a prince who just wants out into this world where we can choose and decide who we want to be," co-author of the original book, Samantha van Leer added.
Van Leer co-wrote the book during her teenage years with her mother, best-selling author Jodi Picoult.
"You're doing this big project together, side-by-side, but she still has the right to send you to your room," she recalled.
At 13, she came up with the idea to give the characters in the books we read entirely different lives outside the pages.
"It was an eight-year process to get this to the stage," said Picoult.
The show was supposed to open in April 2020, but we know how that story goes. Its debut was delayed again this summer due to COVID.
"In a weird way, my performance is better for having been trapped in this pandemic for two years like Oliver is trapped in his story," Smith said.
"After the pandemic, we all wanted to escape our stories, and that's kind of the message of 'Between the Lines.' If you're not in the story you like, live the one that you want to be in, find a way to change your narrative," Picoult added.
"I've had a couple people tell me that they, after watching the show, did something very personal to re-write their story, whether it was get out of a relationship that wasn't serving them, it wasn't very good, or whether it was to find a new job," said Jacobs.
Audience members have also told them they feel seen.
"A character who's not just basically a lesson for the audience to learn, it's a living, breathing person who just happens to be non-binary," Smith said.
The last day to connect with a performance is Sunday, Sept. 11.
