Complete with a knife-wielding Little Red Riding Hood, a Rapunzel that chokes on her extremely long hair, and a student in a cow costume, Portage High School’s “Into the Woods” had the audience laughing from start to finish. Directed by Kevin Lee Giese, the production combined multiple fairy tales to create a musical journey revolving around the search for a red cape, hair the color of corn, a milky-white cow, and a slipper. Along the way, a giant falls from the sky and wicked step-sister’s toe gets cut off.
“It’s the fairy tales we’ve all grown up with,” said Giese. “There’s a little bit of everything for everybody. It’s based on fairy tales, but there’s also stuff for big kids too. There’s relationships, love, romance.”
As a vocally-driven production, a key component of cast members was musical talent. After two weeks of auditions and two months of preparation, the opening night took place on Friday.
Giese said, “[Drama] is one of the greatest preparers for life. Number one: it prepares them for social interaction. I would put a theatre kid before anyone in terms of social situations. Job interviews, college interviews. They learn communication skills, plus cooperation, collaboration, and compromise. They are working together for a common goal because when the curtain goes up, it’s everyone’s show.”
Unfortunately for nine of the cast members, the production will be their last experience in high school theatre.
Stage right manager, scenic designer, and tech manager senior Anna Kapcia got involved with theatre her sophomore year.
“I really enjoy the environment,” said Kapcia. “Everyone here is so friendly and if you make a joke, everyone joins in. It’s nice. Everyone accepts everyone. I also enjoy how time-consuming this is. When I go home, I do nothing but my homework. I like coming here and actually doing things.”
Senior Sara Dailey took the role of the Witch in her eighth and final Portage High School production. She will be attending the Jacobs School of Music at IU Bloomington in the fall, majoring in Vocal Performance.
“It’s a whole lot of emotions,” said Dailey. “I’m excited because I am about to go to college and this is the end of the year. I’m ending with a bang. It’s also really sad because I’ve done a ton of shows here. This is where I got started. I love the rush that comes with theatre. When I step out on the stage and see all those faces looking at me, it’s like I just come alive.”
With six years of directing at PHS under his belt, Giese said, “If you ask most anyone that has been involved in high school theatre-- we don’t do high school theatre. We do real theatre and we’re very proud of that. You ask people about their high school years and they’ll tell you that was their favorite part.”
“Into the Woods” will be performed April 23-24 and 29-30 at 7:30 in the Portage High School auditorium. Tickets are sold at the door.