“Sweeney Todd” is creepy, interesting and famous. LHS reader’s theatre team has taken on the challenge of transforming this two hour and thirty minute production and cropping it down to just thirty minutes and performing it for competition.

The most interesting aspect of “Sweeney Todd” is the story line. Catching the viewer’s attention is exactly what it does.

“The story of ‘Sweeney Todd’ is about a barber who was thrown into jail by a corrupt judge and was sent out of London,” senior Ian Whitsitt said. “He is coming back, years later and he has kind of gone insane and he is out for revenge. It is the story of how this woman named Ms. Lovett works with him at her pie shop. He is hunting out the judge and meeting a bunch of different people along the way.”

Sweeney Todd is not the only one who is out for revenge; the reader’s theatre team is seeking some themselves.

“At the state tournament last year, which is based off a rating system one being the best and so forth, we went 1-2-7, 7 is the last place,” director Michael Turpin said. “Obviously we did not make it to the final round of state, so we were quite disappointed. When selecting the next reader’s theatre I thought, ‘well what is something that we could do that would portray the revenge that we were personally seeking’ and therefore came ‘Sweeney Todd’.”

With “Sweeney Todd” being such a dark story, it can sometimes be difficult for the students to get into character.

“I am a 15-year-old kid, so I can’t really relate to a lot of the things this guy is going through, like thinking that his wife is dead and not seeing his child again,” freshman Jake Kane said. “I also like to think that I am a normal person, so it is hard to be this crazy murderer.”

Due to other performances and activities for the school, the practices for their performance start at 7:00 a.m. and go until 7:45 a.m.

“We are down in Mr. Turpin’s room. We get out all of our boxes and stools, and then we run it from the top. After we get through the whole show, Mr. Turpin gives us his notes and we work on what is needed until the bell for first hour rings,” sophomore Emily Goodwin said.

On Wednesday, March 16, the reader’s theatre performed “Sweeney Todd” in the Little Theater at LHS.

“It was for friends and parents that were not going to the competition on Friday,” Whitsitt said. “It was nice to do it in front of an audience before the final performance. It was more practice, and the audience even gave us a standing ovation when we finished performing.”

Districts were held on Friday, March 18 at LNHS. They took second overall and were pleased that their work paid off.

“Honestly second was the best place we could have gotten,” sophomore Molly Day said. “It was enough to be able to have gotten a second chance to go to state, but it was also enough to motivate us to do better. This was a great way of showing how to improve rather than us going to state thinking we were already on top. We’re all ready to get back into it and do everything we can to help our show improve.”

State will be held on April 22 and 23 at Missouri State University and the goal is to receive first place.

“We will prepare for state by rehearsing a lot more, reading the ballots the judges filled out, improving where we can and overall just becoming the best that we can be,” Kane said.