Naples, Fla. (September 5) – Future stars of the stage collaborate with professional Equity actors in Heathers: The Musical, a joint production of Naples’ Theatre Zone and Florida Gulf Coast University’s Bowers School of Music. Heathers, considered an iconic black comedy, offers hilarity as well as a heartfelt look at the serious issues of bullying and teen suicide.
Heathers: The Musical will be presented at the FGCU Theatre Lab, 10501 FGCU Boulevard South, Fort Myers, on October 12, 13, and 14 at 7:30 p.m., and on October 14 and 15 at 2 p.m.
Heathers: The Musical was written by Laurence O’Keefe (Bat Boy, Legally Blonde) and Kevin Murphy (Reefer Madness, “Desperate Housewives”). It opened off-Broadway in 2014 followed by an engagement in the West End in 2018. The musical is based on the 1989 film of the same name.
Authors O’Keefe and Murphy wrote in the preface to the script, “We wanted to give our audience a chance to look at the most terrible aspects of human nature, laugh at them, and maybe find inspiration to combat these things with love instead of anger.”
Heathers’ setting is Westerberg High, ruled by the shoulder-padded, scrunchie-wearing Heather, Heather and Heather, the hottest and cruelest girls in all of Ohio (performed by FGCU students Haley Adkins, Karinna Crespo and Maya Senecharles).
Misfit Veronica Sawyer (FGCU student Alexandra Adams) rejects their evil regime for a new boyfriend, the dark and sexy stranger J.D., played by Equity actor Quinn Corcoran, who was a lead actor in TheatreZone’s productions of Rock of Ages and A Little Night Music. J.D. plans to put the Heathers in their place – six feet under.
Mark Danni, founding artistic director of TheatreZone, says he is “thrilled at the spectacular level of talent” of FGCU’s theatre and music students who have been cast in the musical. FGCU’s theatre program offers a Bachelor of Theatre Arts degree. For musical theatre study, the school maintains close collaboration with TheatreZone, which is entering its 19th season in Naples in 2023-2024. Heathers: The Musical, is its fifth joint production with FGCU.
The FGCU students who are acting alongside Equity actors cast by Mark Danni are earning valuable professional workforce experience, a requisite of their degree programs.
Also performing in Heathers is FGCU theatre professor and Equity actor Gerritt VanderMeer, a frequent lead performer in TheatreZone’s musicals — he played Tully in Escape to Margaritaville and Hertz Klinemann in Rock of Ages.
Tickets to Heathers are $40 and $45 depending on seat selection in the theatre located in the FGCU Arts Complex, with special $10 tickets for FGCU students,
To purchase tickets, visit www.Theatre.Zone.
