By Hannah Curran, Editor
TRUSSVILLE — The Hewitt-Trussville High School (HTHS) Theatre Department presents “Way of the Wanted,” a western murder mystery written and directed by HTHS Senior John Murray. The shows are on Oct. 27 – 29 at 7 p.m. and on Oct. 30 at 3 p.m. Tickets are $5 for students, including students at any school, even college, and $10 for adults. Tickets can be purchased at the door by card only.
Way of the Wanted (Photo courtesy of Hollie Yount)
Murray originally wrote this play as a one-act his freshman year, and after many hours, days, weeks, and even months, he has transformed it into a full-length production.
“I think it’s a really special kind of book ending his high school career,” Theatre Director at HTHS Valerie Lemmons said.
Murray explained the process of creating a full-length play was exciting and different.
“It was interesting because having a one-act only has so many pages, so you can get away with a lot more plot holes, but expanding it out, you have to have more detail and everything,” Murray said. “Every character got a much richer backstory, and honestly, expanding it made it a whole lot better.”
Murray said when working on a murder mystery, he had to find the archetypes he wanted to use.
“Once I did that, it was just assigning names and everything and getting the right actors for the job,” Murray said. “It’s a lot of fun to see it all take shape.”
The casting and auditioning aspect of the production for Murray was the most daunting.
“It’s because you have so many people in front of you, and you have this idea of the character, but nobody’s exactly what you want, so you have to pick the person who’s right for it,” Murray said. “It’s involved a lot of gender-bending different characters. People who were guys are now girls and stuff like that. But I feel like we found the right people for the job, and it’s going to be really great.”
Last year Murray student-directed the two shows HTHS produced, and then Lemmons offered him the opportunity to write the show this year.
Way of the Wanted (Photo courtesy of Hollie Yount)
“When I hear western murder mystery, I think goofy, silly, but it’s not at all,” Lemmons said. “It’s very real. It’s very gritty, real people, you’re going to be invested. Not cartoony at all.”
However, Murray isn’t the only student making a name for himself. Noah Weber, another student at HTHS, has composed the entire show and written a completely original score for “Way of the Wanted.”
“I’ve never done anything like this before,” Weber said. “It’s also a learning opportunity. I’ve always wanted to make music for something bigger.”
Weber has competed in and won Trussville’s Got Talent several times, but now he is taking his talents to a new level. Lemmons said that you can explain to Weber the feel and vibe you want for a scene, and he will do it.
“It’s been very collaborative,” Murray said. “He read the script, but it really was just him getting in here and being like, ‘I want this for this character and this for this scene,’ and he’s just so good that he’s on the fly, and it’s amazing.”
Murray has indeed found his calling, and Lemmons said it’s an honor to have one of her students take the reigns.
“At this age, students don’t do well taking direction from their peers at all, but John can communicate with them in a way that they hear and respect,” Lemmons said. “He treats them with such respect that even though he has this authority over them, I don’t think anybody ever feels that he abuses his power; he is very professional. To see someone doing what I love to do, and to see him in his element, makes it worth getting out of bed every day.”
Lemmons explained that Murray, every year, has submitted playwriting to the Trumbauer District competition.
“We’re going to the Trumbauer District competition the first Saturday in November, then state is at Troy State University, the first weekend of December, and he has submitted playwriting every year,” Lemmons said. “So I predict you will probably see films by John Murray one day.”
Way of the Wanted (Photo courtesy of Hollie Yount)
Murray said that writing and directing is his passion and has been for a very long time now.
“It wasn’t until freshman year at the Trumbauer District competition that I started actually pursuing it,” Murray said. “
Lemmons said there is something to be proud of at HTHS.
“I would love to see the accomplishments of our artists be celebrated on the same level as the accomplishments of our athletes,” Lemmons said. “I would love to change the culture of the city as a whole, that you can go see a show at Hewitt-Trussville, you don’t have to research it, you don’t have to know what it is, and you know it’s going to be great.”
Murray said this is a sentiment that this show is by students, for students, and is going to be something completely unique to this town that you can’t get anywhere else.
