On Sept. 7 at 10 a.m. in the Drama Performance Center, the Theatre Department will execute the community performance of this year’s Director’s Circle play, “To Die For”.
The plot features historical romance author Carla Woods, who lives in a Gothic 1800s-style mansion filled with traps and pitfalls. Known for playing dangerous mind games with her secretaries, she hires a woman named Grace Hunter as her assistant. Initially, Grace is excited to meet the eccentric Ms. Woods, yet questions the position–until the arrival of a mysterious, handsome man prompts questions about Carla’s past that could change everything.
Junior Will Frey, one of the production’s leading actors, shared that his primary goal will be to emphasize clarity.
“One of the main goals I have this year is focusing on objectives,” Frey said. “Especially with a thriller, when everyone’s lying about something, having a clear objective for each scene is very important. It makes the plot flow much better.”
The play’s set was uniquely hand-tailored to depict its setting, Carla Woods’ 1800s-style mansion, which required substantial research. According to senior Mia Bearman, the lead set designer of “To Die For”, her ideas had to undergo several revisions before being approved.
“I had to do a lot of research, because in the script, it said [Carla Woods’] house was built in the 1800s,” Bearman said. “It’s a giant mansion, but I couldn’t design it like a giant mansion built today, I had to design it like a giant mansion built in the 1800s. But I didn’t know what that looked like, so I had to do a lot of research on furniture, architecture, and floor layouts, and then I got to put all my ideas down and draw a first sketch. Then that went through the production meetings, and the director, Ms. Baskin, gave me tips, looked at my designs, and said, ‘I like this, this, and this, but not this.’ I probably did like five different sketches of the set until we came across the one that we liked the best.”
The set, though intricate, is also substantially sized. While some found this aspect challenging, Bearman remains adamant that the size of her creation is necessary to fit the story’s setting, considering there are no set changes that would require it to be moved mid-performance.
“Of course [the set] is gonna be huge, it’s a mansion,” Bearman said. “This is like the entrance hall to a giant, artificially haunted mansion. If it wasn’t that big, it would just be kind of silly. There’d be no other way to properly do it.”
As the premiere of “To Die For” approaches, Frey expressed his excitement to perform after weeks of rehearsal, and his desire to see the attendance of new audience members.
“I’m definitely looking most forward to performing, because we’ve been rehearsing since August 2,” Frey said. “We worked a lot on the show to get it to the position where it is right now. But I’m also most looking forward to showing people what we’ve been putting together, and introducing newcomers to come to Theatre and see our shows.”
“To Die For”, directed by Megan Baskin, features leading actors Anna Copeland, Will Frey, and Ella Sorkin, as well as Set Designer Mia Bearman and Lighting Designer Nicholas Craciun. Besides the free community performance on Sept. 7 at 10 a.m., paid-for showings will take place on Sept. 8 at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. and Sept. 9 at 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. in the Drama Performance Center. Tickets are available for purchase here.
