Kansas Wesleyan University - Coyote Yearbook (Salina, KS)

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GE Finding Somewhere Thatis Green Dorky flower shop employees, bums, prostitutes, bag ladies, street urchins and a giant singing-man eating flytrap brought an almost unanimously posi- tive reaction from audiences said Craig Hauschild. The bizarre, campy, off-beat musical comedy Little Shop ofllorrors was performed April 22, 23, 29, 30 and May 6 and 7, in Fitzpatrick Auditorium. The show was originally a bad horror movie from the 1950s before music was added and it became a hit on Broad- way in the early 1980s. It was made into a movie in 1987 but with a different ending. The ending was changed for the movie, it was too dark so they made it a happy ending to please audiences. Barbara Marshall said. The production lasted two months including per- formances for the 37 actors, musicians, and crew technicians. The group consisted of mostly freshman with the principal characters of Audrey and Seymour being two of the few upperclassmen. I think the students involved felt like they had accomplished something. I thought their ability to pick up on what they were doing and the pace at which they picked up on it was excellent, Hauschild said. I'd say it was probably one of the best supporting casts I've worked with on any show. Two seniors made their last appearances on the KW stage as Audrey and Seymour. Hauschild took time out from a busy schedule as the president of StuCo and other numerous campus activities. I wanted to do one more production before I left col- lege, Hauschild said. He had appeared before in a large leading role as John Merrick in the Elephant man. The roles were both very physical but involved different talents for Hauschild. John Merrick and Seymour were so different, it was fun to do the comedy and to hear people laugh but John Merrick was a greater challenge, because I had to project myself in such a way as to portray a physical handicap that people would see even though it wasn't there. As Seymourfs romantic interest, Kirsten Stanton played the role of Audrey, a bleached-blonde, inse- cure and vulnerable woman with a past? This role presented a variety of challenges for Stanton, It was both physical and vocal. . .her voice wasn't that hard for me to do, but it stuck out - it's what people really noticed, as well as her whole physical appearance - her walk, her low-cut dresses and high heels, and her whole persona was so stereotypically blonde Be- sides the straight acting involved in portraying such an outstanding character, Stanton also carried a major musical part, I really had to work on the musical part of the show because I haven't had that much vocal experienceg two years of choir and three semesters of voice lessons. I got by because most of her singing was in the Audrey voice and didn't call for a lot of difficult vocalizationf' Stanton did some research in preparation for this production. I did watch a Marilyn Monroe movie to try and pick up on some of her mannerisms because the directors said that Audrey had a lot of her characteris- tics, especially the walk. I didn't really study the Little Shop... movie, I had seen it twice before. she said. Both Hauschild and Stanton enjoyed their roles in this comedy. The lines themselves, and the way the character said them was a type of humor that had to be listened for. If a line was done right, the humor would come out. said Hauschild. He felt that the cast, for the most part, achieved that proper delivery. . .most of the time we did, but there were several places that perhaps we didn't. Different audiences reacted to different things, some nights they would laugh when -continued X Kg, .. .K Q A ,Nl Xi ..... , yih- , ig i t - . S s are aff er.t to ete. . , 3 l i 1 1 I uw I'd say it was probably one of the best support- ing casts Iive worked with on any show. Craig Hauschild Showing his newly dis- covered plant specimen to fellow flower shop em- ployees, Seymour, por- trayed by Craig Hauschild, explains its uniqueness to Audrey and shop owner, Mr. Mushnik. Mushnik is portrayed by Dennis Grant. Photo by Cindy Wunder Little Shop of Horrors

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3 -1 2 1 1 Natural tendancies pay for Orin, the dentist portrayed by Jim Sweet, just as his mother had foretold during his sadistic childhood. Photo by Cindy Wunder l S I I Troubles with a sadistic boyfriend leave Audrey, portrayed by Kirsten Stanton, to dream of a better time and place, I Somewhere That's Green. Photo by Cindy Wunder On Skid Row, members of the cast sing of the cruel world and hard life of Downtown. Photo by Cindy Wunder X wg te-amd.. .s.s.ts...M swam K -s ..,. - , , I-t g ' 1 . . k.---. r . .0 -V . ---N w .K --s g --- -- if - .s q se X wg X 2 E I ' t r . , ...--. ---- -.-- . . ..,.... . .... . SWR- fi54mik.sNw? --'-- fi s .. - 22 Little Shop of Horrors X K1 NR KX X a

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It was a horrendous undertaking. . . probably the propiest show I've worked on.', Dr. Eric Marshall For the flnale, Audrey II fthe plarrtl is displayed in full form, including the faces of those it has con- sumed throughout the play. Photo by Cindy Wunder Kirsten lAudreyl walked out and other nights they wouldn't. Stanton said, Audrey was really fun to play, It was a challenge to play her even though I got teased that there was a part of me that was really like that. I guess that there's a part of you in almost every character you play. You have to find something that you can identify withf' The response from the audi- ence proved to be an energy booster for the cast, . .when the audience really responded we had more energy -I felt better about my performance and I think everybody felt better. said Hauschild. Getting people to run the plant was a difficult task. Four different sized puppets were involved. The first two were hand operated, one person operated the third and the largest took two people to run it. Chore- ographer Chally Matte was inside the third plant in which she became very hot because of all of the movement. She had fans that kept her cool but they were accidentally unplugged many times. Chally about suffocated the night her fan broke, director Dr. Eric Marshall said. One half of the directing team suffered through pneumonia during the critical weeks just before the show was to open. Dr. Marshall directed practices even though he was not supposed to be out of bed. Most of the cast also suffered illnesses battling colds and flu during rehearsals as well as one of the urchinf suffering several ankle problems preventing her frorr dancing in high heels. Student director Bobby Jones put in long hours chasing down props and costumes. I thought I was going to die, the sixteen hours I was carrying plus trying to do costumes and props...it felt like every- thing was coming to an end. Jones said. It was a horrendous undertaking. . .it was probably the propies: show I've worked on.'i Marshall said. There were so many challenges in the show that just surviving it was great. Even with the problems, the show was successful and those in the the Theatre department became closer All the kids grew a lot, Marshall said. We ha' enough disasters and enough pressure that we camj out of it with a feeling of department unity. Q' by Cindy Wunder and Kirsten Stantorj 24 Little Shop of Horrors