“Blood and Sequins” by Rachel Bublitz will have three showings: Thursday, Nov. 3 at 7 pm, Friday, Nov. 4 at 7 pm, and Saturday, Nov. 5 at 4 pm.

“The play the theater department is putting on this fall is ‘Blood & Sequins’ by Rachel Bublitz. It is a prom-themed murder mystery with some added comedy. I am the director, and I got the position after assisting in directing the spring musical last year and applying to direct this show,” senior Savannah VanPamel said.

Our high school will be the first to put on this play. Everyone is very excited to be lucky enough to be a part of this new experience.

“I am most often the scenic designer. Although in this show I have a student who is working with me to design the scenery for the fall play,” teacher Joel Kaczmarczyk said.

There are 13 main parts or roles in this year’s play. Those characters include Winifred, Milly, Tilly, Freya, Basil, Jewel, Darcy, Hamish, Ffion, Saffron, Coco, Verity, and Primula.

“My role is Winfred Redbum. I don’t consider myself a main part, but I do have a lot of lines throughout the play. Winfred is an energetic yet quiet person who nobody can seem to remember going to high school with. She and her friend are blamed in the beginning for being the murderers and she is scared the entire time since she really, truly doesn’t want to die,” senior Nadeen Rashed said. “We started rehearsing about two weeks ago, and so far, I am trying to memorize all of my lines before the deadline which is Oct. 13.”

There has been a lot of hard work and dedication put in by those helping run this play and they are so close to the end, so close to the opening night.

“We started rehearsing a while ago. It’s hard doing football and theater at the same time of the year, but I make it work. Right now I’m just memorizing lines and making sure my blocking is good. I play Basil, one of the two lead male characters in the show, who ends up becoming prom king, but the excitement doesn’t last very long since he gets trapped in the mansion with a murderer on the loose,” senior Doug Gettleson said. “It’s been such an awesome show to be a part of. This will be my fifth show at Utica and I’m very excited to be part of the first-ever cast to put on this show since its brand new.”

“We have been rehearsing for a few weeks now, and we are going off book and running our scenes with the scenery. My role is a character named Verity. She is the debate president and goes to prom with her best friend Darcy,” senior Makenna Riggs said.

The most popular kids from Salem High School find themselves in an abandoned mansion on prom night, it doesn’t take them long to realize they’ve been caught in an elaborate revenge prank. But things move from annoying to terrifying when a girl drops dead. Locked in, they’re forced to figure out who among them is the killer or end up just as much a goner. A night to remember? More like a night they won’t ever be able to forget.