Hutchinson High School theater students have a whole van full of excitement for audiences in their spring play this week with a show that couldn't be more homegrown.
"Love Bites," a teen rom-com set in the 1980s, is a mash-up of "The Breakfast Club" and "Scooby-Doo" featuring wild hair, zombies and familiar tropes from an iconic era of American cinema. It was written by HHS senior Samantha Hagberg.
"I want to go into directing and screenwriting," the young writer said. "I wanted to since I was a kid. I wrote stories and screen plays all the time and I wanted to try a play."
Along with writing the show, Hagberg is taking on several other roles in the spring production, such as artistic director alongside director Erika Durheim. Hagberg's also choreographed many of the scenes featuring her fellow students, and she plays the role of Kathy, the nerd who transforms from stereotype to sassy.
"It's pretty vulnerable, it's scary," Hagberg said of all her responsibilities. "It's been a bit stressful, but it's a good learning experience for the future."
The show is described like this: "The year is 1988, a van full of stereotypical teenagers barrel into their friend’s cabin. Upon arrival, they notice more than just love blooming throughout the group. It turns out a horde of zombies have invaded the surrounding area! Will they be able to make it out alive and save the world?" Along the way, characters starting out as familiar tropes may surprise audiences with how they develop and grow.
Though the show has horror aspects, Durheim said, it's all in keeping with the PG atmosphere of "Scooby-Doo."
Along with the chaos of zombies, the show features teen angst, relationships, and even star-crossed lovers, all with a comedic angle.
Hagberg began writing and workshopping the show this past summer when a number of students performed a zombie play in the park. She leaned on inspirations from 1980s cinema and dark movies that many might describe as being "before her time."
"I grew up with a lot of it," she said. "There were some references I had to look up to make sure. ... My dad is a movie freak just like I am. I grew up and learned from him."
Durheim said this year ended up being the perfect time to try something written locally. The group of performers and stage crew is filled with seniors, which means Hagberg's creation will be performed by many of her longtime classmates.
"When COVID was so crazy and the musical kept getting pushed back further and further, I didn't know if we'd have a spring play," Durheim said.
The first read-through of the show was April 14, which means when it opens Friday, May 14, audiences will see the result of 30 days of hard work on a hectic, reduced timeline. Durheim hopes audiences will come prepared for the high-energy performance. If the show's themes don't transport you to the 1980s, perhaps the jukebox playing between scenes will.
"We have flooded the show with so much '80s," she said. "If you want to come in neon or get your Aqua Net hair spray out, go for it."
Shows are 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, May 14-15, and 2 p.m. Sunday, May 16. Tickets will be available at the door at Hutchinson High School, $8 for adults, $6 for students. Masks will be required and COVID precautions will be taken, limiting the show to 250 viewers. Groups will be seated together and spaced out from others.
If you can't make it to the show in-person, there are plans to stream a recording on the Hutchinson Theatre Association's YouTube page.
For senior Anthony Zeuli, who plays Phillip, part of the joy of the show has been watching Hagberg.
"It's fun to see how her brain works," he said. "When you're working with the playwright, it's fun to watch how things come to life. It's cool to see her choreograph, to see it the way she wanted it. Any time you're on stage blocking, you can see her light up when it happens the way she imagined it."
Zeuli's character is a clumsy goofball in the style of Ralph Malph from "Happy Days," a character he's already familiar with from portraying Ralph Malph in a community theater performance of "Happy Days."
"I think my character is funny whenever he sings or falls," he said. "There are a lot of fun moments. There is a moment with a few guys, we call it the bro moment."
Navaeh Rettig, a freshman, plays a zombie. She performed in a middle school show, but this will be her first at the high school.
"I'm a neon zombie, so I wear a lot of neon," she said. "It's kind of cool. ... I'm kind of a dorky zombie. My hair gets all teased up, all messy and crazy. I get to smash my head through a window."
The spectacle of performers running around so much on stage — not to mention with zombies — stands out to her as a unique feature of the show. She also loves the callbacks to movies such as "The Goonies," and a love confession that turns a shy character confident.
As a zombie, Rettig will participate in one of the show's surprise dance numbers, which she choreographed.
"I'm excited to see the reaction," Hagberg said. "I don't think people are going to expect it. It's going to be fun."
