The members of the Cochrane High School Performance and Visual Arts Program have undertaken a demanding production with Little Shop of Horrors.  However, they have met the challenge by working hard since October for opening night on February 7. 

The horror comedy musical is about a shy, nerdy shopkeeper, Seymour Krelborn, and his co-worker Audrey who work at Mushnik’s Flower Shop. The shop is in a rundown skid row area of New York. A unique plant of Seymour’s is added to the inventory of the shop to entice customers to the dying business. The plant called Audrey II becomes a local celebrity because of her lust for human blood to thrive.  

Cochrane High Grade 11 student, Tony Yan plays Seymour Krelborn. Yan says one of the challenges to the production is maintaining the energy that is needed for the show. “It is a lot of work, and it is a very demanding musical. Not just acting-wise but in terms of the set and props. There is a man-eating plant so there is a lot of stage magic that has to be worked around.” 

Another factor that is adding to the complexity of the production is the use of a live pit band providing music as opposed to recorded tracks.  Yan says, “Whether it's from all the work that people are doing in the technical theater to put together or all the transpositions, or all the work that pit band's done to sort of cater to make the performance better.”  

Grade 11 student, Willow Fluker, plays Audrey, Seymour’s co-worker who admires him but is involved in an abusive relationship with Orin Scrivello a sadistic nitrous oxide-addicted dentist. Fluker researched her role as Audrey by learning about abusive relationships, “I did a lot of research online. I watched a lot of TED talks of women talking about their experiences and not just about what happens, but what goes through their head the entire time where they don’t leave right away.” Fluker also had to perfect an accent for the role.  

Grade 12 student, Alexia Proulx, plays Audrey II, also known as the man-eating plant. Proulx says, “That is a very fun character to play obviously it is a bit hard to play because I am not a plant (she adds with a laugh). Figuring out how to put out that character and be this plant while I am offstage and making sure that its personality is really shining through my voice has been a challenge, but it is really fun.” The stage magic includes puppeteers manning Audrey II on stage while Fluker provides the voice offstage for the bigger-than-life, extroverted, lippy, carnivorous, plant that sings.  

Katie Stang, also in Grade 12 plays businessman Patrick Martin. Stang recognizes her personal growth in the performing arts program along with the development of the program itself over the past four years. She recognizes the difference between the first production, of The Mob, which she was involved in when she was in grade 9 to Little Shop of Horrors her final production in grade 12. For the grade 12 students involved, it is a bittersweet experience as it is the final production of their high school career and Stang says, “When people ask me if they should join musical theater or performing arts in any respect, I always say yes because of mostly the community. The people there genuinely become like a second family. I am going to miss seeing them every day and working with them on different shows, but I am excited to see what they all do in the future as well.” 

Teacher/director Dustin Whetton has been at Cochrane High for seven years. Whetton says being involved in the performing arts program is rewarding and inspiring, “To see someone believe that they have the mastery to do something or the independence to do something is not very often. A lot of times as a teacher, kids look to you to provide the answer to be sort of the leader there, and to have the opposite where the kids get to be the masters and the leaders is an awesome experience for me so I enjoy it.” 

A great deal of time and hard work has gone into Cochrane High’s production of Little Shop of Horrors. For the first time since 2018, Cochrane High School is opening its theatre to full capacity to present the classic musical and they hope folks will attend.  

The opening performance is Tuesday, February 7 at 7 p.m. followed by February 8 at 7 p.m., February 9 at 7 p.m. February 10 a matinee at 1 p.m., and the closing performance at 6 p.m.  

Tickets are available through Eventbrite.