During an intro to playwriting class at Michigan State University seven years ago, Cole Hunter Dzubak found inspiration for his first play, Afterall, in an unlikely source: Oasis’ 1995 megahit "Wonderwall."

Given a prompt from his professor to write a play based on an existing piece of media, Dzubak said he ran with the idea of deconstructing what have become different interpretations of the song, repurposing them in his own story.

Originally believed to be a story about songwriter Noel Gallagher’s then-girlfriend and future wife, Gallagher later corrected the record that "Wonderwall" was actually a song about an imaginary friend “who's gonna come and save you from yourself."

Dzubak’s obsession with the song and its two supposed meanings made him realize what he had to do.

“Afterall is really about that idea of those two interpretations of the song kind of being pitted against one another, and it forces the main character to pick: imaginary friends or love of his life,” Dzubak said.

After years of tinkering, Dzubak and Ypsilanti’s Neighborhood Theatre Group will debut Afterall as its latest production, with shows set for February 27 through March 1 and March 6-8 at the Back Office Studio in Ypsilanti.

In Afterall, the story’s main character, Adam, played by two different individuals, and his girlfriend, Raine, are gearing up for the next stage of their relationship. All plans are derailed when Adam suffers a family tragedy, causing him to revert to the only coping mechanism that worked as a kid: talking to his imaginary friends. As he navigates his inner turmoil, it’s clear that there isn’t room for everyone, and Adam is forced to choose who is really there for him: the love of his life or his imaginary friends.

Directed by Danielle Mclogan and starring Drew Dyer, Jessica Lee, Patrice Linman, Meg McNamee, Sean Sabo, Drew Tallquist, Dean VanLoo, and Mitchell Walker, Afterall is a departure from a traditional plot-driven story, told in a nonlinear, memory-driven format that moves between the past and present.

“It unfolds the way memories do in real life; messy and often interrupting itself as it centers on moments of strong emotion,” Mclogan said. “This allows the audience to slowly piece together the history and relationships between the characters, which creates a really unique experience.”

Getting Afterall to the finish line has been a long but rewarding process, Dzubak said, starting from an original 20-page script that he eventually bulked up to around 35 pages by 2021. Over the next four years, Dzubak would continue to edit the production before a public reading was held at Planet Ant Theatre in Hamtramck in 2024.

After getting the script in front of an audience, Dzubak introduced Afterall to Neighborhood Theatre Group around the same time, receiving extensive feedback on how the story could be altered to be more cohesive. NTG later did a full reading of the production as a group this past summer, with a number of individuals offering input on Dzubak’s script.

“When we did the reading, I had like 20 different people giving me their different versions of how they interpreted the story,” Dzubak said. “So, that helps me as a playwright, not necessarily change that much of what the story is going to be, but just see how people interpret what I write. I want people to take different meanings from this—whatever they need at that moment.”

Dzubak described Afterall as a “dramedy” that interjects jokes into serious topics like mental health and the loss of a loved one.

“I think people should be aware that they're coming into something that's going to ask them to think about that question of 'How do you perceive yourself?'” Dzubak said. “Where is thinking about that good; where is thinking about that question maybe self-destructive? Definitely, they'll laugh, but I think there's gonna be a lot of moments when they're really gonna have to stop and think.”

Director Mclogan said that while she has read previous versions of the script, she said most of the writing process for Afterall was done before she was involved with the play.

Even if the play has changed from one iteration to the next, Mclogan said the core idea of the piece is the same as it has always been, just more fleshed out now.

“Afterall is all about memory, grief, and how we bring our past with us as we try to move on from previous versions of ourselves,” Mclogan said. “What makes Afterall unique is how opposite ideas exist together on stage; past and present are shown side by side, and old relationships butt up against new ones, blurring the lines between what is real and what is imagined. Instead of explaining memory, the play lets the audience experience it directly. Ultimately, Afterall invites audiences to reflect on the moments they’ve put off, the voices they carry with them, and what it might mean to finally make room for something new.”

Martin Slagter is a writer and reporter with 18 years of experience in print and digital media. He also writes about Michigan-based music in his weekly newsletter Radio Amor.  

Neighborhood Theatre Group presents "Afterall" from February 27 through March 1 and March 6-8 at the Back Office Studio, 13 North Washington St., Ypsilanti. Visit ntgypsi.org for tickets, showtimes, and more info.