Returning to the Woods

Contributed photo A young Emma Thomason poses in front of the poster for her first ever theatre show, "Into the Woods," during middle school.

Although “Into the Woods” is a new experience for some students in the theatre program, there are a handful of performers who are doing the show for a second time. The experience for many performers is vastly different from when they performed in high school and middle school.

For younger audiences, “Into the Woods Jr.” takes creative liberties with the source material, erasing the second act entirely and vastly changing the script of the first act. This is to maintain a happier ending for their younger audience.

“Typically, in high school and community theatre setting, they tend to do Junior versions of shows,” said John Ingram, a junior theatre major from Bainbridge, Georgia, who also plays the role of the narrator and previously played Cinderella’s Prince in high school. “Into the Woods at Troy is the full experience, nothing is being skipped out on.”

“The first time I did the show, I was in seventh grade, and I played Little Red Riding Hood in, it was also my first ever show,” said Emma Thomason, a senior theatre major from Hoover, who plays Jack’s mother. “This show is very important for me, and the fact that I get to do it for my senior year is the perfect book-end that I could ever ask for.”

There are plenty of changes made to the show to make it a different experience for those who have performed before. Many performers are taking on completely different roles from when they were in high school.

“It’s a very different process from the high school level to the collegiate level,”  said Chandler Greer, a junior theatre education major from Greenville, who plays Florinda and previously played Little Red Riding Hood in her senior year of high school. “Because I have played two different characters, it’s so different to go into the mindset of being as evil and mean as a stepsister compared to the fun-loving, little kid mindset of Little Red.”

All of the performers in “Into the Woods” encourage all students to come to see the show starting Thursday, April 18. Shows will be running for two weekends in April, and ticket sales can be found online.