“Time and tide wait for no man,” is a Chaucer quote Blake Newhem-Valenzuela’s class likely studied during his days as a professor at the State University of New York. It could also apply to his current vow to write and create now before his brain robs him of the ability to do so.
A tumor sits on the part of his brain which controls language expression, and he moved to Akron in 2020 to be closer to treatment.
“They were able to take out about 70-something percent of it,” he said. The rest of it, they can't. They describe it as ‘like oatmeal in a rug.’”
His language skills “could be gone tomorrow - or it could last several more years,” he said.
It’s a terrifying thought for a full-time writer, so he’s been creating as much as possible. His first play, “The Blake and Ollie Show,” premieres Friday night at the Akron Civic Theatre’s new intimate venue, Wild Oscar’s, which provides seating for about 50 people. The play touches on a past, abusive relationship and the trauma of losing his parents five years ago - all while battling the tumor, represented by a green puppet.
“Ollie's his name, and he's just trying to live,” he said. “He's a tenant in my attic, and I'm not going to be his enemy. We have to work together through things.”
Ollie’s outrageous and unexpected intrusions are part comic relief and part mental terrorism. The tone is established by the director: Blake’s husband, Angel Newhem-Valenzuela. He’s acted at the Civic, LatinUS Theater Company in Cleveland and on stages in Canton, Broadview Heights and Kent. He was recognized with this year’s Summit ArtSpace Arts Alive Emerging Artist award. “Blake and Ollie” is his first time directing.
“I'm a bossy Mexican,” he said. “And I have a very good eye. It's another thing that I did not know that I could do, because nobody tells you can direct until you try it.”
Angel has complimented Blake’s budding acting skills, despite the challenges his husband faces.
“For him to learn the lines, for him to remember the blocking, for him to dance a little bit - those three things at the same time are throwing him off,” Angel said. “When you still have the remnants of a tumor in your head, that is really messing with you in your daily life.”
One other reason the Newhem-Valenzuelas have to celebrate is Blake’s emerging interest in collages and visual art. It’s another subject explored in the play.
“It's about how this guy, Blake, transitions from a world of language, a very right-brain-centered world, to opening himself up to the other side,” he said. “Language is about taxonomy and separation of things and labeling things and being critical of things. And I realize that I don't need words.”
“The Blake and Ollie Show” runs July 7-23 at the Akron Civic before moving to Cleveland’s BorderLight Fringe Festival in August. Despite some trigger warnings for the content, the creative team wants audiences to take away a positive message.
“Assume the tumor,” Blake said. “Assume that an anvil will fall out of the sky at some point, and this life is not a rehearsal for something else. That's all you get.”
