This spring, the theatre department has been working on a play based on “Lord of the Flies.” The play opens tonight at 7 p. m. with additional performances on Friday and Saturday. Senior Ella Baucom notes the cast is all girls, and there are a few minor changes from the book.

“I play Ralph but since we gender-mend it to all girls I play Riley … she’s kind of a natural born leader,” Baucom said. “We are doing an all female cast, in the book it’s all boys … we have a little bit of name changes.”

  Sophomore Annabelle Wolfer also described her role in the show. She said her character is a main focus of the plot because she’s different from the other characters.

“I am playing Piggy in ‘Lord of the Flies,’” Wolfer said. “She is probably the most disliked on the island … so a lot of the play is the other kids bullying her.”

Wolfer said the casting process was different from previous years because it was in the Black Box. She said students would practice a part and perform it for director Jordan Foote and the student directors.

“We had a few different monologues we could choose from and memorize,” Wolfer said. “Then, we went in on the audition date to the Black Box and performed it.”

Typically, the theatre department will do a teaser version of their play during Advisory for students to preview during school. This performance is different from others because students had the opportunity to watch the play during a full show from Advisory through sixth hour on Thursday.

“We have a school day performance … for anyone who took Honors ELA 9,” Baucom said. “It’s cool that we get to share the whole show with people.”

The theatre students have been practicing since the beginning of the second semester. Baucom said the rehearsals include practicing lines and improving their work based on notes.

“Early on in the process we would have a rehearsal [called] blocking, which is delegating where you need to stand, how to move throughout the set,” Baucom said. “[Now], we’re in the stage of doing full runs from start to finish.”

However, the lines can be complex and difficult to learn. Wolfer said remembering her monologue was harder for this show because of the detailed scenes.

“This one was a hard one for me to memorize,” Wolfer said. “But there’s also been other things … like getting into character.”

Baucom said her favorite part of putting the play together was working with the other students. She said they are supportive and she loves working with them.

“They’re all so nice … [and] they’re all so hardworking,” Baucom said. “[It’s] amazing to have a group in a show where everyone wants to work so hard to make it as good as it possibly can be.”