Elliot Trainor, Seymour the plant, and 'The Urchins' Lanishya Garrett, Taina Figueroa, and Aaliyah Johnson rehearse 'Little Shop of Horrors' at Pittsfield High School.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Pittsfield High School's spring production will include singing, dancing, and a man-eating plant.

The PHS Proteus Theatre will present "Little Shop of Horrors" on April 28-29 and May 5-6 at 7:30 p.m.
and on April 30 and May 7 at 2:30 p.m.

The dark comedy is based on a 1986 movie by the same name and follows Seymour Krelborn, the protagonist, who discovers a "strange and interesting plant" that he soon realizes needs blood to survive.

"He's kind of down on his luck, he hasn't had the greatest opportunities in life, he works at a flower shop and he's really into strange plants," theater teacher and director Kyla Blocker said.

"He finds a strange plant one day that no one has ever seen before and it's a big hit, brings him a lot of success but he finds out that the plant eats blood so he has to figure out a way to keep the plant growing and happy so we see him grapple with those decisions throughout the show and we kind of want to answer the question 'How far are we willing to go to get what we want?'"

Elliot Trainor, who is a junior, said playing Seymour has been a very fun process.

"It's a lot of work obviously, with school and rehearsals and everything but I think it's really fulfilling. I think it's really worth it," he explained. "I've never really had a very large role in a show before but I've been acting pretty much my whole life."

Summer Lawton, also a junior, plays Seymour's love interest Audrey and is the choreographer for the production.

"It's a lot of fun working with all of my friends," she said. "I think we're all really close-knit and it's fun having them support me through this because it's my first year being choreographer and everyone's been really supportive and helpful."

Blocker explained that the play was chosen from a gut feeling.

"I think about the group that I have and what type of show would kind of fit the group that I have," she said.

"This show is so fun. It is very dark in some ways, but it is at its core comedy and I felt like it had some stuff that this group could really dig into, some really fun characters that they could like really sink their teeth into."

Fifteen students will showcase their talents in the production and about 25 students have worked on the play from grades 9 through 12. Rehearsals began over February break.

Audrey II, the carnivorous plant modeled after a Venus fly trap, was rented from Berkshire Arts & Technology Public Charter School. Making Audrey II come to life takes two cast members: Dea Wood as the voice and Brooke Tripicco as the puppeteer.

The two have to coordinate dialogue and movements while Wood is offstage.

"It's very different acting off stage because the only way I can act to the audience is with my voice," she explained.

"So I have never used my voice in a way that had to be like that before because I've always been able to use body language and moving around but for this, I'm over off stage so I have to portray everything through the way I speak."

Wood also has stage time as a featured dancer.

Tripicco said maneuvering the puppet is a mixture of instinct and practice. She had to learn both how to operate the puppet, which there are multiple, and when to operate it.

"It's learning the lines for the plant so we're in sync with the puppet and the voice, there's also an aspect of kind of having a loose understanding of other people's blocking because I have to be able to use the puppet to track them as they move," Tripicco explained.

"So that is part instinct, that's just listening, there is a lot of listening involved.  For lines and stuff, we both have to know the lines and we have to know them exactly as written and we have to have the same exact way every time."

The teacher who originally made Audrey II provided training for the mechanics of the puppet.

Senior Colin McKinney plays Mr. Mushnik, the owner of the flower shop. He feels that it is a fun and hardworking process that is well worth it.

"What you get out of it is just a fun experience with friends and it's just such a learning experience, I feel, too," he said. "You learn so much about singing, music, and stuff like that.  You get a lot out of it."

 McKinney added that Mushnik is a very interesting character and he has found ways to play the role to make it fun and delightful while also being serious and nasty towards Seymour.

Jessica Healey is a featured dancer and part of the ensemble.

"It was very fun to learn," she said about the choreography. "We picked it up really quickly, which I was very surprised about. I'm glad we were able to pick it up that quickly."

Tickets are now on sale online.

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