'Heathers' lowers the curtain

Published Jan 25, 2024 in Troy University's student newspaper, The Tropolitan (by Hermes Media)

Troy University’s Department of Theatre and Dance’s latest production, “Heathers” took its final bow Monday night, ending its reign over the university after being completely sold out before the first performance.

This production was slightly different than the department’s usual spring musical. This year, in addition to its spring musical, Into the Woods, a Special Topics class last semester planned, rehearsed and performed a musical on their own.

The special topics class was asked to select a musical for them to perform, with a majority voting on “Heathers.”

Grace Bennett, a junior theater major from Alabaster, Alabama, was one of the students taking part in this course, playing the role of Martha Dunstock.

?“It was a class production,” Bennett said. “We [rehearsed] every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m, from August until the end of the semester.”

From August to the beginning of January, the special topics students were preparing for their first showing on Jan 18.

“It was actually it was lovely to have as much time as we did, but because of circumstances that happened, there was a lot less time and I think we originally thought,” said John Alloway, a sophomore theater major from Troy, Alabama, who played the role of Kurt in “Heathers.” “When we got back this semester, in January, things moved really quickly. We got the show into a really good place very fast into the semester.

“I think all that stress sort of just like washed away and we were able to like really have fun digging into the material and just trying to create a show that people would laugh and enjoy and hopefully learn a lesson from.”

Over the course of four months, the cast and crew were able to come together not just as classmates, but as a production.

“It was wonderful,” Bennett said. “I love this cast; we are all really great friends. I loved working with everybody.”

"We've definitely gotten a lot closer throughout this process, but that was something we wanted from the start, “said Emma Thomason, a senior theater major from Hoover, Alabama, who plays Ms. Fleming and Veronica’s Mom. “Within the first week of rehearsal, we didn't even do any script work, it was all just getting to know each other and forming a connection, because we were doing such a show that was so sensitive.”

“I've seen everyone grow in skill and tenacity, and we've just put on a show that I think all of us are incredibly proud of.”

While the cast was learning lines and choreography, the crew was working on the set design, lighting design, and much more behind the scenes.

Adie Carter, a freshman theater education major from Birmingham, Alabama, was one of the students in charge of making sure everything ran smoothly. As the stage manager, she was assigned to keep track of all of the moving parts of the production.

However, she was a bit nervous at first: this was her first time working on tech.

“As soon as I got cast as stage manager, I texted my stage manager friends from high school and I was like, ‘Oh, what do I do?’ and they gave me a bunch of really useful tips.”

Much to the sadness of audience-goers, there was a limited amount of performances of this show, only spanning one weekend.

“We sort of had something like this with “Jekyll and Hyde” where things were sold out and people were really trying to get in and it makes me see that the work that we're doing here isn't going unnoticed, that we are doing good work, and that's a lovely feeling to have,” Alloway said. “I hope it continues.”

This audience response was a delightful surprise to the cast and crew alike.

“it makes me feel like what I do is important and that I can do this in the future, which is something I'm super worried about because I graduate soon, but the fact that so many people are so receptive, and especially that I've gotten so many compliments from this performance,” Thomason said. “Like It almost brings me to tears every time because I'm just so overwhelmed by how much everyone loves it.”

As the curtain comes to a close on “Heathers,” students can look forward to the department’s official spring musical, “Into the Woods.”

“One of the biggest ways you can show you care about the arts is by coming to support,” Thomason said. “I just have so much love in my heart for anyone who came to see this show and just raved about it because we couldn't do this without them, and that makes me so happy that people love what we do.”