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The CSC Eagle Newspaper – Chadron, NE
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The CSC Eagle Newspaper – Chadron, NE
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The performance To Die For

Eagle Staff

CSC Theater department finishes out the year with a performance of Caroline Smith’s play “To Die For”

Written by Erin Hayhurst and Mackenzie Dahlberg

The night was dark and stormy. A best-selling author laughed after seeing one of her dangerous mind games. The comedic thrill stopped when a knock resonated through the her mansion. The man at the door was mysterious, dark and handsome. But what could the night possibly bring if this is just payback from her two intelligent and charismatic coworkers.

Chadron State College theatre department will perform “To Die For” by Caroline Smith for their final production with four separate performances over the weekend on livestream. It is a comedic thriller with numerous twists and turns that will be enjoyed by all ages.

Halle Smith, 19, freshman of Wheatland, Wyoming, as Grace Hunter lights a match in the dark during dress rehearsal, Wednesday, in the Black Box Theater.

“The play is about a woman named Grace who gets a job as the secretary for an eccentric gothic romance novelist, Carla Woods, who has a cruel sense of humor,” Olivia Freeze, 19, freshman of Bridgeport said. “Everything she does is a trick or manipulative, and you never know what’s the truth and what’s a lie.” 

Freeze is performing the role of the novelist Carla after participating in many of the shows, despite being a music education major. 

Olivia Freeze, 19, freshman of Bridgeport, as Carla Woods snears over her thoughts during dress rehearsal, Wednesday in the Black Box Theater.

“My favorite part of the play with the process is tech weekend, where we have the show memorized and we are running through the whole thing every night in full costume and makeup, with all of the lights, sounds and cameras just like we would in the real performance,” Freeze said. 

Despite the last performance “Seventy Scenes of Halloween” being only available on livestream, this production will have a small, invitation-only live audience for each performance. Freeze said she was excited about the live audience, despite the smaller size. 

“A small live audience is better than no live audience,” Freeze said. 

Due to COVID-19, the theater has been negatively affected. Performers, techs and directors have had to adjust to the new environment.

Olivia Freeze, 19, freshman of Bridgeport, as Carla Woods shuffles through letters while Halle Smith, 19, freshman of Wheatland, Wyoming, as Grace Hunter rants to Freeze, during dress rehearsal, Wednesday in the Black Box Theater.

“COVID has made theater more complicated than before,” Freeze said. “We have much smaller casts and crew, we wear masks until the final week, and we have a very small audience. The limited audience is the biggest difference because for a show, especially a comedy, the reaction of the audience is very important, and a small audience is much less likely to react out loud.” 

With the influence of COVID-19 through the whole campus, it has strongly affected freshmen’s college experiences. There have been a lot of comparisons between previous high school productions and current college theater productions. 

“I think this was a good experience despite COVID restriction,” Freeze said. “I am just a freshman this year, so my college theater experience has taken place under COVID restrictions. I couldn’t tell you how different it is from normal college theater.”

Jarret Buchholz, 20, sophomore of Arnold, as The Man holds up a cell phone to try and find cell service during dress rehearsal, Wednesday, in the Black Box Theater.

The performance will begin 7 p.m. tonight. Friday and Saturday’s performance will also be at 7 p.m. and the Sunday matinee will be at 2 p.m. 

Tickets for the livestream can be reserved at csc.edu/theatre. After completing the reservation, a confirmation email will be sent with the password for the performance, each performance having a different password.