Ferris State stu­dents will get dra­matic this week with the pro­duc­tion of Hairspray pre­mier­ing tomor­row night.

“Hairspray is a good show and it just became avail­able,” said Katherine LaPietra, FSU the­atre pro­fes­sor and direc­tor of the pro­duc­tion. “A lot of stu­dents seem to like it and know it.”

FSU will be one of the first uni­ver­sity the­atres to do this show in the state of Michigan.

Tyler Easton, sopho­more in the tele­vi­sion and dig­i­tal media pro­duc­tion pro­gram with a minor in the­atre, who is play­ing Harriman F. Spritzer in the show, said, “I absolutely love the fact that we are doing Hairspray because it’s a great oppor­tu­nity for myself as an actor.”

Easton has been doing the­atre for seven years and this is the third show he has par­tic­i­pated in at Ferris. He said it’s some­thing he loves to do and has a pas­sion for.

Anthony Brock Jr., fresh­man in the tele­vi­sion and dig­i­tal media pro­duc­tion pro­gram, who is play­ing Seaweed J. Stubs, said, “I love Hairspray because it’s a high energy play. I get to leave here in a good mood and I should be in a really good mood when I leave.”

Brock’s favorite part about this show was mas­ter­ing his song.

Steve Gangi, senior in the sur­vey engi­neer­ing and phi­los­o­phy pro­grams, plays Corney Collins. He said, “When Anthony [Brock] stands up on stage and starts to belt out his song I melt.”

Gangi is enjoy­ing doing this show because he likes being involved with the the­atre com­mu­nity and feels it’s a great oppor­tu­nity to share a mes­sage through theatrics.

The stu­dents par­tic­i­pat­ing in this pro­duc­tion expressed a true pas­sion for what they are doing at FSU.

“My favorite thing about the­atre is the free­dom of expres­sion,” said Brock. “I like being able to be com­fort­able out­side of normalness.”

Matt Price, senior in the polit­i­cal sci­ence pro­gram, is play­ing Micky in the show. He said, “One of my favorite things is see­ing peo­ple become very pas­sion­ate and pro­fes­sional and also see­ing the com­radery that devel­ops over time.”

Cassie Halt, fresh­man in the crim­i­nal jus­tice and foren­sic sci­ence pro­grams, plays Shelley in the pro­duc­tion and enjoys the­atre and music because it is a big part of her life.

“I really wanted to join up and be a part of the musi­cal fam­ily,” said Halt.

“One of the most pow­er­ful things about being in a cast is we’re a fam­ily and we bond a lot,” said Easton.

The cast also loves the char­ac­ters they get to play.

“My favorite thing about my char­ac­ter is he makes a really bland chick into a really hot chick,” said Brock. “Plus, he’s really smooth.”

Gangi said, “My char­ac­ter is me embod­ied in a char­ac­ter. I was def­i­nitely type­cast for this show.”

Easton enjoys his char­ac­ter because it’s the exact oppo­site of who he is in real life. He enjoys being in the­atre because of the oppor­tu­nity to expe­ri­ence life through many dif­fer­ent per­son­al­i­ties, which enables the abil­ity to under­stand how a lot of dif­fer­ent peo­ple work.

For any­one look­ing to be involved in a cre­ative out­let, the cast encour­ages the­atre as a form of expression.

“It takes a lot of work, but I think just about any­body can do it if they’re deter­mined enough,” said Easton. “There are no lim­its in the­atre and every­one can be involved.”

LaPietra expressed how much work goes into putting on a show like this. They have had many vol­un­teers, includ­ing stu­dents, help­ing to get things in order. The turnout of peo­ple want­ing to be in the show was great with 92 stu­dents audi­tion­ing and 45 get­ting parts.

Hairspray will pre­miere at Williams Auditorium tomor­row evening at 8 p.m. The play will have two more show­ings on Nov. 5 and 6 also begin­ning at 8 p.m. and a mati­nee show on Nov. 7 begin­ning at 2:30 p.m. Student tick­ets are $4, $6 for seniors, and $8 for adults and can be pur­chased online at fer​ris​.edu/​a​r​t​s​/​t​i​c​k​e​t​s​.​htm or at the Williams Auditorium ticket box office from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. until Nov. 5 and one hour before show times.

If you are inter­ested in being in an upcom­ing pro­duc­tion at Ferris or would like addi­tional infor­ma­tion, con­tact LaPietra at ext. 2108. n