‘Yabbuts from Outer Space’

West De Pere High Schools have qualified for the state level of the Wisconsin Theatre One Act Competition with a show more than 20 years in the making — Yabbuts from Outer Space, an original one-act play by Luke Stempa.

In 2002, Stempa was a second grade student in the West De Pere School District when he wrote the short story “Yabbuts from Outer Space” about kids’ brains being invaded by aliens.
Stempa, who was born with congenital heart and other medical conditions, passed away in 2006 at the age of 12, but his legacy in the West De Pere School District, where he is remembered for his extraordinary creative talent, lives on.

“He passed away when he was heading into sixth grade, but that story that he wrote in second grade became kind of legendary,” said Peggy Eserkaln, director of the show. “The principal of Westwood Elementary, Joe Boss, really wanted something to be done with that story. So my name came up as the person to be brought in to figure that out.”

Before she worked in the district, Eserkaln first met Stempa when he participated in a kids camp at ComedyCity, which Eserkaln owned.

“I always tell people about what an honor it was to be asked to do that because I knew Luke, but also what an incredible undertaking it was to have that trust,” Eserkaln said. “The fact that [Stempa’s parents] trusted me with that memory, it still makes me emotional today. Never in our wildest dreams did we think that it would become such a looked-forward-to, popular and remembered program.”

The show was put on for ten summers, 2007-17, through the Luke Stempa Summer Arts Institute where hundreds of students, led by Eserkaln, learned about movie making, improv comedy, clowning and, of course, performed Yabbuts for thousands of audience members.

In August of this year, on the 20th anniversary of Luke’s passing, West De Pere High School students chose Yabbuts from Outer Space as their Wisconsin Theatre One Act Competition submission.

Last week, they performed the show at Sectionals and won advancement to the state competition, scheduled for Nov. 19-21 at UW-Parkside.