Plant puppet could steal the show

Musical ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ presented this month

  • Heather Pillsbury, who has “always wanted to play Audrey,” rehearses for “Little Shop of Horrors,” a musical presented by Arts!Oglethorpe this month. Audrey is the love interest of Seymour, played by Tyler Spears (left), a fourth-year UGA student. (Sarah Coyne/The Oglethorpe Echo)
    Heather Pillsbury, who has “always wanted to play Audrey,” rehearses for “Little Shop of Horrors,” a musical presented by Arts!Oglethorpe this month. Audrey is the love interest of Seymour, played by Tyler Spears (left), a fourth-year UGA student. (Sarah Coyne/The Oglethorpe Echo)
  • Penny Miller, a first-time director, will direct Arts!Oglethorpe’s summer musical “Little Shop of Horrors.” The cast has been practicing four times a week since May 13. (Sarah Coyne/The Oglethorpe Echo)
    Penny Miller, a first-time director, will direct Arts!Oglethorpe’s summer musical “Little Shop of Horrors.” The cast has been practicing four times a week since May 13. (Sarah Coyne/The Oglethorpe Echo)
  • Arts!Oglethorpe will hit the stage with their production of "Little Shop of Horrors" at 7 p.m. June 21-23 and 27-29. (Sarah Coyne/The Oglethorpe Echo)
    Arts!Oglethorpe will hit the stage with their production of "Little Shop of Horrors" at 7 p.m. June 21-23 and 27-29. (Sarah Coyne/The Oglethorpe Echo)

    Arts!Oglethorpe’s summer production of “Little Shop of Horrors” will feature more than just actors. Plants will also make their debut.

     

    Puppeteer Cedwan Hooks was able to bring to life a “special” puppet that will be on display during the show. The show wants to keep the look of the puppet a secret until opening night.

     

    “People should come because the plants that we have are making their debut,” said Penny Miller, the show’s director. “The plants that we have have never been used by anybody else.”

     

    “Little Shop of Horrors,” which will be presented at the Historic Crawford School this month, follows the story of Seymour, a young man who works at a floral shop in a bad part of town. 

     

    While working, Seymour discovers a plant with plans to take over the world.

     

    Tyler Spears, a fourth-year University of Georgia student, has enjoyed his time playing Seymour.

     

    “It gives me a chance to have a lot of time to experiment with my acting and character choices with such an already established character,” he said.

     

    Miller, who is directing for the first time, has been preparing the cast for opening night by rehearsing four times a week since May 13. 

     

    “I think it’s important to kind of have a vision,” said Miller, who teaches at Oglethorpe County Middle School. “You’re the decision makers, the director. And so you have to make sure that you kind of have sort of a vision, a flow, of where you want things to go and how you want the end result to be.”

     

    Crawford’s Heather Pillsbury, a songwriter, is Audrey, Seymour’s love interest. She enjoys the quirks of the musical.

     

    “I love the show so much,” Pillsbury said. “I think it’s so fun and funny and camp and I love the music. I’ve always wanted to play Audrey.”

     

    David Bloyer, voice of the plant, known as Audrey II, is excited for the opportunity to voice act.

     

    “The music is wonderful,” he said. “For me, personally, I have never had the opportunity to do any voice acting. I've done a lot of stage work, I’ve been on stage since I was in third grade, but I’ve never done voice work, but I think it would be entertaining to see how it would go.”

     

    If you go...

    “Little Shop of Horrors” will be presented June 21-23 and 27-29 at the Historic Crawford School. Times are 7:30 p.m. on June 21-22 and 27-29, and 3 p.m. on Sunday June 23, and tickets ($20) can be purchased at artso.booktix.net. For more information, email tickets@artsoglethorpe.org or call 706-202-1211.