This year’s LTAC/freshman spring play, “They Came From Somewhere,” brings strong southern accents and an unexpected message to the Lane Tech auditorium starting April 15. Director Julie Allen, who is producing her 8th show for the school, said she chose this play to introduce something “more outrageously funny, ridiculous” than last year’s comedy. “I immediately knew that it was something I wanted to do,” Allen said after reading the script.
This year’s play is a farce, which is known for exaggeration to call out social norms. To Allen, the show’s message is especially relevant to today. “We’re living in a world right now where some people in the country are afraid to go out because of the judgments people will make about them,” Allen said. She explained that the story reflects this idea of judgment. “This story is poking fun at the idea that we can’t know about a person before we really talk to them,” Allen said.
Before blocking and production, Allen has actors read and discuss the script to understand its themes. “The writing is really strong, and so if they’re embodying the characters, if they’re invested in who these people are and what they learn about themselves, without others, then that message will come through,” Allen said.
Co-director Parker White said the biggest behind the scenes challenge is coordinating multiple technical elements. “There’s so many different elements of the theater from stage crew, lighting, sound, backstage spots,” White said. “Getting them to work in sync is really difficult, but we make it happen.”
He also shared that the meaning of the play becomes more clear as the cast works with the script. “It is very silly, and on the surface, it’s really funny,” White said. “the more that we understand the lines and the characters, the more we understand how much it’s really about loving each other and how we’re all not really that different at all.”
Freshman Will Manners, who plays the lead, said hed didn’t anticipate his current involvement. “I don’t think my audition was really that great, but I was really surprised at the outcome,” Manners said. He said that the LTAC and freshman spring play was his only chance to audition for the role. “So it’s kind of like, Go big or go home,” he said.
Manners described his character as a kind and confident man whose goal is to save the town of Latigo, Texas. He said that the hardest part has been acquiring the Texas accent. “It’s hard to like, really capture like, someone who’s so different from me in terms of, like, language and dialect,” Manners said. One of Lane’s theatre teachers, Molly Meacham, serves as the students’ dialect coach to practice during rehearsals.
