Norwell Company Theatre Performs “Carrie”

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Ruth Kerber

The cast of Carrie performs their finale number before taking a bow.

Ruthie Kerber, Contributing Writer

Everybody knows the story of the Stephen King classic “Carrie”.  A girl gets crowned prom queen, her bullies dump pig’s blood on her, and she subsequently kills everyone at the prom. It’s a classic that either makes a person excited or squeamish to hear the name. As a hater of the horror genre, I was a little skeptical to hear of the Norwell Company Theatre’s teen production of the show, but I was immediately sold once I found it was a musical.

This production starred many Hingham students, including junior Kyra McConnell as Chris Hargensen, Carrie’s main tormentor, junior Maddy Wendell as Frieda, a friend of Chris, and sophomore Casey Hussey as Miss Gardener, Carrie’s gym teacher and friend.  One of the great things about this cast is that it included teens from all over the South Shore. Their love of theatre brought them together, and they quickly formed a close knit group.

“We were all with each other so often, so I guess we had to deal with it somehow,” laughed Norwell High freshman Julia Hoitt, who appeared in the ensemble of the show. “Some of us knew each other, some of us didn’t, but working on a show like this, we really became great friends.”

The program for the show included a heartfelt note from the director of the show, imploring people to be kind. In every school, there’s a “Carrie”, and it only takes a little bit of kindness to change their life. In Carrie, Sue Snell, the most popular girl in school, convinces her boyfriend to take Carrie to the senior prom. Until the blood antics begin, Carrie has the best night of her life and finally feels like she belongs.

“I feel like the show really opened my eyes to all the bullying that goes down in our school system and let the audience see the situation from Carrie’s perspective,” said freshman Olivia Monarch.

If you missed your chance to see Carrie this weekend, you can still catch Maddy and Kyra in Company Theatre’s Bridges of Madison County this February, and some of Hingham’s younger actors in The Lion King in April.