The Department of Theatre has spent the last six to seven months working on this year’s annual Homecoming musical, Disney’s Freaky Friday.
The show dates are Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. and will take place in the Boone Family Theatre. Tickets are available to purchase at ACU.UniversityTickets.com.
Throughout the long hours and many practices, the department has become a family-like community for students, say Freaky Friday cast members.
“It feels more like a family than it does our major sometimes, but especially for the show that’s really focused around family life and relationships,” said Ella Root, senior theatre major from Plainfield, Illinois. “Being so close with one another really helps with that.”
Root plays Katherine Blake, the mom of a teenage girl. This role is shared with Taylor Herndon, senior theatre major from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Together they have worked to create a well-rounded character who the audience can relate to.
“I have to have a stream of consciousness of where my character’s been, where she is, and where she’s going, and that really helps me create a cohesive three-dimensional character,” Herndon said.
Hannah Galambos and Madison Sipe play the role of the teenage daughter, Ellie Blake, who swaps bodies with her mom, Katherine. In the musical, Katherine and Ellie learn to appreciate each other’s struggles and have more empathy for one another.
“I think what drew me to this show is the relationship piece,” said director Dawne Swearingen-Meeks, chair of the Department of Theatre. “To me, it’s about having the opportunity for one day to step in someone else’s shoes and look through their lens.”
Herndon said even though it is a Disney show, people should be prepared for an emotional rollercoaster because it touches on heavy real-world topics.
“Something that I think really forms us here is our faith,” said Sipe, senior theatre major from Abilene. “It impacts our process a lot, we pray before every rehearsal, and we pray over the themes that we cover, which sometimes are heavy or hard to discuss.”
The cast and crew have been working since last semester to put together this production. Rehearsals are six times a week for five or six hours.
“I think I could speak for all of us when I say this is something we are really passionate about, so it’s not hard to put our energy into it,” Root said.
