On Sept. 24, the cult classic musical Little Shop of Horrors will debut at Whitesboro Middle School for a four-show run, bringing a challenging new production — and a particularly hungry plant — to the stage.
Whitesboro High School Theatre Director Tony Morrell selected the show to align with this year’s theater department theme: consequences.
“It’s our word for the year,” he said. “We’re learning that there are good consequences and bad consequences and exploring what that can mean. This show is a great depiction of that.”
But Morrell also chose “Little Shop of Horrors” because he knew he had students capable of tackling the production’s vocal, acting and technical challenges.
“This show has a lot more complicated music, and then there’s the technical side of working with the Audrey II puppet,” Morrell said. “We have some surprising stuff in this year’s show. This is something that I’m excited for us to try — it’s always exciting to try something new.”
One of the production’s biggest challenges, however, has nothing to do with the show itself. With construction continuing at the high school as a new performance venue is built, the theater department found itself a bit displaced.
“Luckily, Principal Scoggins and Assistant Principal Sosa have let us use the middle school stage as our home base for the year,” Morrell said.
While the troupe is grateful to have a place to rehearse and perform, transforming the middle school stage into a performance area created plenty of additional work.
“We essentially had to set up the middle school as an alternative performance space,” Morrell said. “I’m especially grateful to Brian Collman and Chad Carey for helping us move equipment, paint and do some wiring to make this space what we need it to be. The challenges have been fun.”
Knowing the department would have only eight weeks to pull off the production in a new space — while still allowing students to enjoy their summer — Morrell got creative with the set design.
With the help of Whitesboro Fine Arts Director Tonya Harper, the department located and purchased an entire set and plant puppets from another school district.
“We knew we wouldn’t have the space to build all the things we would need,” Morrell said. “That along with our time constraints, this was a great solution.”
The Audrey II puppet will be operated by Assistant Director Clay Luton.
Finding their roles
Students auditioned at the end of the last school year, with each auditionee required to prepare a one-minute monologue and 16 bars of music from a Broadway show. Not long afterward, the cast list was posted.
“Our directors, Mr. Morrell and Mr. Luton, did a great job with the casting,” said senior Aubrey Keyes, who plays Crystal. “Everyone really seems to fit their part.”
Junior Jason Reed, who plays Mr. Mushnik, knew right away who he wanted to be in the show.
“I’m a big theater nerd,” he said. “I already knew this show. I knew I wanted to be the old grumpy man, and I was so excited to land the part.”
Some students were familiar with “Little Shop of Horrors” before auditioning.
“I was so excited when they announced this would be our show,” said senior Ripley Harper, who plays Seymour. “I couldn’t wait to be in the show. It’s been a mind-blowing experience.”
Others, however, had some catching up to do.
“I had to go home and watch the movie to see which character would be a good fit for me,” Keyes said.
While many students turned to the movie to familiarize themselves with the characters, Morrell noted that the stage production is somewhat different.
“The context is correct and age appropriate for this production,” he said.
More than a production
It’s a good thing the cast is excited about the show, because putting on this production of “Little Shop of Horrors” requires a significant time commitment.
In addition to rehearsing every Monday and Thursday from 5-9 p.m. for eight weeks, students sometimes work during productions class and participated in a summer boot camp to learn their roles.
For the cast, though, the long hours pale in comparison to the reward of the experience.
“All of these people — cast and directors — have made it such a great experience,” said junior Landry Harper, who plays Orin. “It’s been worth it.”
Other cast members echoed Landry’s sentiments, pointing to the camaraderie they have developed as one of the best parts of the experience.
“I’ve been in multiple theater companies over the years, out of all of them, this one is truly special,” Ripley said. “You can just tell by the atmosphere. We’re more like a family.”
Junior Destry Fletcher, who plays Audrey, agrees.
“This is the only group I’ve experienced that takes out all the unnecessary drama and just gives unconditional love and appreciation for one another,” she said. “There’s no competing among each other — everyone just lifts up and appreciates everyone else.”
Reed said the group’s bond has grown over several years.
“A lot of us have been doing this together since our freshman year of high school,” he said. “We’ve grown together, we’ve gotten better together. It’s like nothing else I’ve ever been a part of. I’ve never felt more accepted and loved than by this group. I just love the opportunity to get to work with all of them.”
Beyond the friendships, the cast members appreciate the creative freedom their directors have given them as they develop their characters. They’re also enjoying one of the production’s most unusual elements: the Audrey II plant puppets.
See the show
The community is invited to experience “Little Shop of Horrors” at Whitesboro Middle School on:
• Sept. 24 at 7 p.m.
• Sept. 26 at 7 p.m.
• Sept. 27 at 2:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.
General admission tickets are $15. Senior citizens and students are $10, and children age 5 and under are free. Ticket prices include dessert, which will be served during intermission at each performance.
Tickets are available online at fromthegrounduptheatre.ludus.com or at the door.
“Little Shop of Horrors” is one of six productions on the docket this year for Whitesboro theatre.
In addition to the middle school and high school one-act plays, the middle school theater department will perform a night of 10-minute plays written and performed by its students. The high school theater department will also host a free, one-night-only performance of “Ten Ways to Survive the Zombie Apocalypse” at Trollinger Park on Halloween night, and another production, “Finding Neverland,” is also on the schedule.