Seckman High School sophomore Peyton Hegel will live out one of her acting dreams this weekend.
The 16-year-old Barnhart resident will play Ponyboy in the Seckman High School Theatre group’s performances of “The Outsiders” at 7 p.m. today, Nov. 20, Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at Rickman Auditorium, 747 Jeffco Blvd., in Arnold.
Tickets cost $10 each and may be purchased at the door or at seckmantheatre.ludus.com.
“It is really a dream come true,” Hegel said. “I wanted this role so badly. I love everything about it. I connect with the character so much in so many different ways. I can’t express how much I love it.”
The play is adapted from S.E. Hinton’s classic novel about rival teenage gangs, the Greasers and Socials, or Socs, in 1976 Tulsa, Okla.
The Greasers come from troubled working-class backgrounds, contrasted with the Socs, whose members are from upper-middle-class families.
“The students were really interested in doing this show,” said director Chris Owens, Seckman High’s theater and debate teacher.
“They had read the book in middle school and knew it was a play. They have been pushing it forward as an idea to do. I remembered reading it, too, and it looked like a good opportunity for us to take on a drama, which we haven’t done in a while.
“We usually do comedies. It is a story that a lot of the kids can relate to because they are teenagers in the story who are featured.”
Sophomore Cal Baker, 16, of Imperial will play the role of Dallas.
Baker said he read the novel and watched the movie in middle school.
He said it is fun to be in a play that he and others have a soft spot for.
“I think it is great to revisit the story and pick up on bits and pieces of it that went over my head when I first read it,” Baker said.
“My family and friends are all thrilled and can’t wait to see the show. They love the story. They remind me every day that they can’t wait.”
Senior Noah Brownlow, 18, who lives in the Arnold area, will play the role of Darry.
He said he was excited to be in “The Outsiders” because it was the first literary classic that stood out to him.
He also said he is looking forward to acting in a drama, instead of a comedy.
“It is a fun change of pace,” he said. “It is a new challenge and broadens our acting horizons.”
Sophomore Jackson Frick, 16, of Imperial will play the role of Randy.
He said it has been fun acting out the story he read in seventh grade.
“There are a lot of fun personalities to work with, and I think everyone has done a good job of bringing it to life,” he said.
Owens said two of the best scenes in the production are the church fire and the rumble.
“It is the combination of events unfolding fairly quickly, and there is a lot you will see visually with the acting and effects on stage,” he said. “When you combine that with the sound, it will be pretty impactful and dramatic for the audience to see.”
Baker said he enjoys the church fire scene the most.
“It is really intense,” he said. “It gets the audience intrigued.
“It catches their attention. The stakes rise by the second with all the stuff going on at once. It is a turning point in the story.”
Brownlow said he enjoys the rumble scene the most.
“It is chaotic, grueling and absolute insanity,” he said. “It is down and dirty like how a fight in a parking lot should be.”
Hegel said she enjoys how the first and final scenes are nearly identical, bringing the story full circle.
She also said it is fun to see how each actor adds their own interpretation to their character.
“There has been so many different adaptations of the story, and it is cool to see how everyone plays the characters a little differently,” she said.
Brownlow said it has been challenging to figure out the best way to perform in a play based on such a well-known story and living up to audience members’ expectations on how the characters should be portrayed.
“It has been a unique challenge in characterization,” he said. “We are on the right track.
“Everyone in the cast has been doing phenomenal jobs with these characters. I think we are going to blow people away with this show.”