“Into the Woods” will be performed by the vocal and theatre departments on Sep. 21 at 7:30 p.m and the 22 at 2:00 p.m in the Maize auditorium. The musical is a combination of classic fairy tales including “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Jack and the Beanstalk,” “Cinderella,” “Rapunzel” and more.

Senior Taya Howard plays Little Red, one of the show’s leads, in the production.

“[‘Into the Woods’] is a combination of all these different kinds of stories coming together, representing a bunch of different metaphors for parts of life,” Howard said. “I wanted to audition for this role because it’s perfect for my vocal range, but also because it’s such a complex character.” 

The cast has been preparing for the musical since the summer, though regular rehearsals began when school started. Howard said she finds difficulty in the age gap between Little Red and herself, but still relates to her in ways.

 “I have really similar experiences in my life to her because she’s a young girl and I’m a young girl,“ Howard said. “It is hard to find the balance being almost 18 and playing a character almost 10 years younger than myself.”

Junior Tyler Brackin portrays the wolf in the “Red Riding Hood” storyline and said he has to add multiple layers to his performance.

“There’s the aspect of him going after Little Red because she’s food, and then there’s the aspect of him going after Little Red because she’s a woman,” Brackin said. “Instead of it just being a piece of meat, it’s a person I can talk to and interact with, that I actually have to hunt in a way.”

Though the actors all got their parts in May, the cast has only had a month of regular rehearsals. In past productions the normal time for preparation was between 2 to 3 months.

“I am really looking forward to people seeing it,” Brackin said. “We have just recently done dress rehearsals and just from seeing dress rehearsals, I can tell you just from seeing that, it’s going to be a fantastic show.”