Published: October 26, 2009 11:16 pm      

Literally Terrifying

Greenville High School’s first theatre production of the year promises to be scary. In a bookish, scholarly way.

The high school’s production of “Literally Terrifying” opens Thursday at the Paul Mathews Auditorium, with shows set for Thursday and Saturday. Just in time for Halloween, the show is very distinctive from conventional performances.

Instead of only the stage being used, the theatre department is making a “walk-through” show which simulates a haunted house environment. Selected scenes will be showcased throughout from plays, and the show will mix media and live performances, including music videos.

“Literally Terrifying” plays on the fact that scenes are from great works of literature. Integrated are selected scenes from Euripides's Medea, Shakespeare's MacBeth and Romeo and Juliet, Edward Albee’s Zoo Story, Eric Bogosian’s subUrbia, selected Shell Silverstein poems and and Gwendolyn Brooks's Poem, The Mother.

The audience will be admitted between 7 and 8:30 p.m. and will walk through in small groups. Tickets are $5.

GHS Theatre Director Andrea Farnham said the non-traditional show was a challenge, but one that she and her students attacked energetically.

“This is what I love to do! I wanted to expose my students to various types of performance. It is extremely different to be only feet away from the audience while acting and for the audience while viewing,” said Farnham. “The emotional connection enhances and the experience becomes much more intense. Also, the experience of acting on film is very time consuming and more refined than on the stage.”

One trial of such a show, Farnham said, is that “you never know what will happen.”

“Since the show will run on a loop, the actors will be performing their scenes between 10 and 20 times a night. They will have to be on their game and realize it’s an endurance race, not a sprint. If they waste all the good emotion right off the bat, they will be drained toward the end of the show,” said Farnham. “They are going to have to pace themselves, which is very challenging in performance when dealing with adrenalin. Also, we are having an issue of confining sound to its specific areas. But in the end, I hope I teach them to take risks. In my opinion, it is better to take a huge leap and fail then never try anything new at all. This is educational theatre, not professional; this is the perfect place to experiment.”

Cast members include Chase Gladden, Brooke Potter, Andrew Griffin, Abby Potts, Addie Arnold, Sarah Baucom, Cheston Henry, Chandler Smith and Bradley Gaulden.

Tech crew members are Stewart James, Matthew Wharton, Melissa Tant, Trevor Wooten, Jacey Selter, Tamara Hernandez, Jerrion Tidwell, Danielle Strandridge, Kristin Croley, Angel Gomez, Jesus Gomez and Andrew Griffin.

“This play is a unique aspect of theatre that Greenville has not been exposed to. Rather than sitting in the traditional auditorium, watching people perform on the stage, the audience will be immersed into the different scenes by getting up close and personal with the actors,” said senior Bradley Gaulden. “The audience will walk through the theatre house in groups of around 10 and walk to different scenes in a haunted house type of atmosphere. From Shakespeare to Silverstein, Euripides to Brooks, this play will either captivate you, or freak you out. Either way, it is something good and new for Greenville to experience.”

Farnham’s Advanced Acting and Technical Theatre Classes have studied Murder, Mystery, and Horror this year. They’ll get a chance this week to put some of their new knowledge to the test – albeit in an atypical way.

“At first I thought, ‘Man, this is going to be lame.  I don't want to do this.’ But as we got closer and closer to the set being built and the images of the scenes in each different location, I started to warm up to the thought of it,” said senior Andrew Griffin. “I wasn't sure we could pull it off.  I went and saw a show that is the same style as this, where you walked through, and I began to think that this could be really awesome if we did it right.”