The Clayton High School Theater Department has packed an ambitious show line-up this year. They will be performing two plays and two musicals, one that will be entirely student run.

Already work has begun on the fall play, “The Secret in the Wings”, which will debut on Oct. 7. The show by Mary Zimmerman is an interwoven collection of rarely told fairy tales. Several parts of the show will include music written by Ian Miller, the head of the theater guild at CHS. He has already started composing pieces for the show.

“They just provide the lyrics, and you make your own music.” Miller said.

Following “The Secret in The Wings” is the freshman/sophomore play,

“Haroun and the Sea of Stories” which will take place on Oct. 14-17. The play is based off the original book by Salman Rushdie, which is a freshman honors-English core text.

Kelly Ryan, head of the theater department at CHS, has set up a special event for the two plays.

“The fall play and the freshman/sophomore play are going to be two weekends in a row, and there will be events going on in-between that,” said Ryan. “We’re doing a kind of festival, and the theme is ‘fairy tales you’ve never heard.’ They’re very dark, kind of creepy fairy tales.”

During the festival, Metro Theater Company will also perform “The Tomato Plant Girl.” Although no students will be casted, the show will be held at CHS.

The two musicals this year will be “Oklahoma” and “Little Shop of Horrors.” Both of these will bring new opportunities to students working on the shows.

Oklahoma in particular will require a lot of creativity and fresh ideas.

“It will be challenging to make something that’s a classic, fresh and new, and to do it very well,” said Ryan. “Some of the best plays and shows that I’ve already seen a bunch of times, are done so well I think ‘Now I get it, now I understand it.’”

“Little Shop of Horrors” will also challenge the production crew, but in a different way – technically. In the show, a florist accidentally raises a man-eating plant. As the plant devours more people, it grows to a monstrous size. This will be quite a technical feat on stage, and Miller has some ideas how to do it.

“I’ve been thinking of using the plant as a vehicle to add in more people,” said Miller. “You would know they were the plant without them literally being the plant. As the show goes on it would start out as just one person, and then it would continue to grow. As it eats people, that person would join the big group.”

Although Miller wasn’t sure on the technical details, he thought his idea could really add to the show.

“I figure every show that’s ever been done of ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ has used a puppet.” he said.

Even before the first rehearsal, a lot of work goes into these shows. Deciding what to perform can be a challenge on it’s own. Each year Ryan is faced with a lot of options.

“I want students to have a variety of shows to work on over their four years,” says Ryan. “I also try to choose things that are challenging.”

Most importantly, Ryan has to choose shows that will give opportunities to as many people as possible.

“The biggest thing in my mind is that I try to choose shows that are ensemble based, which means it has a large cast where the ensemble is really important,” said Ryan.

Ian also thinks that including more students should be a priority.

“I think a lot of the times the theater department can be kind of exclusive as far as how many people are involved,” said Miller.

Despite this, Miller is very optimistic about the shows this year.

“I think this year we have a dynamic group,” Miller said. “We have a lot of energy and passion.”

Even though there is such a diverse group of people working on the shows, the theater needs an audience. Ryan hopes that the festival will drum up excitement for more students to come.

“I would really encourage students to come and see the shows,” said Ryan. “Students should mark it on their calendars, get friends together, set a date, go out to dinner, and make it an event.”

For Ryan, one of the most important aspects of a high-school show is the audience.

“The other goal that the theater department has within a school community is to foster future patrons,” said Ryan. “Even though kids who aren’t involved in the theater department might not ever get on the stage, hopefully theater and going to performances will be a part of their life.”