Havre High theater changes pace with a thriller

Today through Saturday starting at 7 p.m. Havre High School will be performing "The Uninvited," an adaptation of a 1944 horror film.

"It is supposed to be scary, but it's 1944 scary, which is not very scary," director Angela Pratt said.

The story is set in 1937, when London music critic and composer Roderick "Rick" Fitzgerald, played by Tevor Bulkley, and his sister Pamela, played by Audrina Williams, fall in love with the Windward House, which is an abandoned seaside home on Cornwall's rocky coast. They purchase the house for an unusually low price from Commander Brooke, played by Brigham Blackwell.

While at the house, Rick and Pamela meet Brooke's 20-year-old granddaughter, Stella Meredith, played by Sabriel Combs, who lives with her grandfather in the nearby town of Biddlecombe.

Stella is deeply upset by the sale of the house because of her attachment to it, despite its being where her mother fell to her death. Brooke has forbidden Stella to enter the house or to see Rick, who has become infatuated with her. However, she gains access to Windward House through Rick.

The Fitzgeralds' initial enchantment with the house diminishes when they discover that they had gotten more than they had bargained for.

Pratt said that her favorite part of the production was collaborating with the 10 students involved in the play. She added that the students seem to be having a good time with the play.

"It's a thriller," she said. "It's different than anything that we have done in a while. It has 10 really strong actors who are working really hard, working a different acting technique than we normally do. So they have worked hard and we have put it together in a very short amount of time."

Pratt said they started putting the play into production approximately four weeks ago. She said that the play is different from what they have done, with the high school, performing comedies and dramas in the past.

"We haven't done a thriller before. It's a different kind of emotion you are trying to evoke from people than making them laugh or making them really think," she said.

Pratt said she has been working with her students to make the audience feel fear.

She said a specific scene at the end will be interesting to the audience.

Pratt added that they would not be able to perform without the support of the community.

"We have so much support, it's amazing," she said. "It's amazing how much our community supports the arts, and there is no way we could do what we do without them."

The doors open at 7 p.m. each night with the production starting at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $8 for adults and $5 for seniors and students.