Redhound Theatre to present ‘The Elephant Man’ Thursday through Saturday

Above, rehearsal on Monday for "The Elephant Man" by Corbin High School’s Redhound Theatre.

Practice makes perfect and the students of Corbin High School’s Redhound Theatre will present, “The Elephant Man,” which is the piece they will perform during the state theatre competition.

The 45-minute play features Chris Couch as the severely deformed John Merrick and Jeran Arena as Dr. Frederick Treves, a surgeon who volunteers to help Merrick.

Theatre teacher Rebecca Liford-Hibbard said she selected the play after seeing a profile of the recent Broadway production that was later performed in London.

“I just fell in love with the play,” Liford-Hibbard said. “It is beautiful.”

With a time limit of 45 minutes to accomplish setup, production and tear down at the state competition, Liford-Hibbard said, “The Elephant Man,” is ideal for the competition, noting the full version is broken up into 21 short scenes that give short snippets of Merrick’s life.

The full production will take place Thursday through Saturday at the Betty Hamilton Center for the Performing Arts at Corbin High School.

However, as the students prepare for the competition Nov. 13-14 in Bowling Green, scenes may be edited out to insure they remain within the allotted time.

Show times are 7 p.m. each evening. Admission is $8 for adults and $5 for students.

Liford-Hibbard said Redhound Theatre has five additional productions scheduled.

The holiday play, scheduled for Dec. 10-12, will be, “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

Liford-Hibbard said the play is based on the film version. The version Redhound Theatre is using was converted from the film by a professor at the University of Kentucky.

“I’m really excited to do this version,” Liford-Hibbard said.

The spring musical, scheduled for April 21-23 and 28-30, will be the Rogers and Hammerstein version of, “Cinderella.”

Liford-Hibbard said the musical in 2015, “Shrek,” was very heavy on male roles.

“This year, I wanted to do something that was more for the girls,” Liford-Hibbard said.

While weather created some issues, Liford-Hibbard said Redhound Theatre’s inaugural Improv night in Nov. 2014 proved to be very popular with the students and the community.

With that in mind, three Improv dates have been scheduled.

Liford-Hibbard said Improv shows are a great change of pace for the theatre students and give the opportunity for more students to be involved.

“All of the kids have been really positive toward Improv,” Liford-Hibbard said. “It is such a fun evening.”

“We have a lot of students who are involved in other activities, so they just can’t dedicate the time to take on major roles in the other productions,” she said. “This gives them the opportunity because there are no lines to remember. They just have to know how the games work.”

The Improv nights are scheduled for Oct. 30, Jan. 22, and March 25.

Season passes good for all six productions are available. Adult passes are $30. Senior citizen and Corbin School System employees are $25 and students are $15.

More information is available on the Redhound Theatre Facebook page.