Center Grove High School student actors rehearse Monday for a production of “Trap,” which debuts Thursday at the high school’s auditorium.
ANDY BELL-BALTACI | DAILY JOURNALWhen the audience at a high school play goes unconscious, it’s up to theatre students to determine the culprit.
The audience at Center Grove’s production of “Trap,” however, will be conscious for the production, which runs Thursday through Saturday at the Center Grove High School auditorium. The play, written by Stephen Gregg, revolves around actors doing detective work to determine who caused the mayhem when their play within a play goes awry, said Skylar Torrey, director and theatre teacher at Center Grove High School.
Torrey originally discovered the play as a high schooler in 2018, when she saw it produced at the International Thespian Festival in Lincoln, Nebraska. Since then, she’s wanted to direct it herself.
“It’s a play that really makes you think. It has a lot of details within the show that come up later. It keeps you on your toes with how intricate it is and how it draws you in as an audience member,” Torrey said. “During the audition process, students prepared a monologue for me and I was looking for actors who were very realistic. The goal is to make the audience feel like they’re watching real people and not actors.”
The cast of 21 students includes detectives, actors, first responders and one audience member.
Junior Ava Cuskaden plays audience member Angela Lure who managed to stay conscious during the play but is on the verge of insanity.
“She is one of the key features in the plot in terms of figuring out what happened,” Cuskaden said. “It took a lot to get into my role. In previous productions, I’ve been typecast as the funny sidekick, very bubbly and over the top. This is over the top in a different way. Angela’s character is in a deep, dark place, and it takes an emotional toll playing this crazy character.”
Special attention is paid to costume design during the play, with Cuskaden wrapped in a straightjacket and other outfits ranging from a plaid full-length dress to a white collared shirt and black pants to casually dressed teens wearing graphic t-shirts and jeans. Isabella Dills, a junior, served as the play’s costume crew head.
“We took a look at the script and thought about each character and what each person would wear given the time period and place. We had a team of crew members all working together on this,” Dills said. “For more reserved characters, we went with things that were bulkier and covered them more. For characters who were more popular and appealing, we went for trendy and lighter-weight clothes.”
Ainsley Blazek, a senior who has been involved with theatre since seventh grade, is wrapping up her high school theatre career with her portrayal of Detective Gwendolyn Heche, the lead investigator trying to figure out what happened that night at the Oak Box Theatre in Menachap, California.
“I had to be more nuanced with how my character would react and what her facial expressions would be and how she would express herself with her body,” Blazek said. “It’s so different from anything we, as a school system, have put on in terms of theatre. We, as a cast and crew, have worked really hard to put this on the stage, do it justice and make sure the story is portrayed well.”
Caleb Smith, a junior, plays the character of Ephrain Salas, a fireman who responds to the scene and hears noises from the unconscious audience seemingly no one else can hear. People who attend “Trap” will be in for an unforgettable experience, Smith said.
“What I enjoy most about it is it expresses a story that can’t really be told outside of theatre. Theatre makes a personal connection because it’s a person in front of you saying words that aren’t recorded,” he said. “I think it’s a very interesting play about something that is not often touched on. I think going to see it is not something people will regret. It’s a unique experience you can’t get from any other production.”
IF YOU GO
What: Center Grove High School is hosting a production of “Trap” by Stephen Gregg
When: 7 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday
Where: CGHS auditorium, 2717 S. Morgantown Rd., Greenwood, Door 9 on the east side of the building.
Cost: $10 tickets available at the door or online at our.show/center-grove-high-school/trap
