Theater department's latest production turns tabloid into musical

Straight from the pages of a supermarket tabloid, "Bat Boy: the Musical," starring a half-bat, half-boy creature from the inside of a West Virginia cave, comes to the Wells-Metz Theatre this weekend. The contemporary musical runs at 8 p.m. Oct. 25 through 30. \n"Open your mind because you are going to witness the most far-out piece of theater you have ever seen," said senior Tom Hershner, who plays the role of Bat Boy.\nIn the play, the Weekly World News, a fictitious supermarket tabloid, has just broken the story of a creature living in a cave near a rural coal-mining town in West Virginia. In the beginning of the play, the creature is portrayed as more animal than boy. \n"There's a lot of physicalities that goes into it -- screeching and roaring," Hershner said.\nThroughout the play, Bat Boy goes through a series of transformations. The script is full of twists and turns to keep the audience constantly guessing.\n"It is a very fast-paced show," said the play's director, George Pinney. "It has a domino effect with a climactic point at the end of the first act and a huge climax at the end of the second."\nBat Boy is naive and innocent, and as the play progresses, he must learn to live in society. \n"The society around him brings him into a new world, which gives him a different image of himself," Hershner said.\nBat Boy is brought into a stereo-typical, closed-minded rural community that has little willingness to understand the outsiders. \n"It deals with the encounters this creature has with the members of this community as he tries to gain acceptance," said sophomore Richard Desloge, who plays the role of Ron Taylor.\nAlthough the underlying themes are serious, the musical is actually a comedy. \n"It is hysterically funny," Pinney said. "It will be a blast of an event." \nThe musical incorporates all different styles of music from opera to rock. The songs parody well-known musicals like "Jesus Christ Superstar" and "West Side Story." \nThe music, as well as the scenery, adds to the tone of the performance. \nThe scenery in the play starts off as a series of billboards that look like advertisements for a roadside attraction. Scenic designer Dathan Powell, an Master's of Fine Arts student, said the set gives off the tabloid feel that Bat Boy is a roadside attraction. \n"We really wanted to play up the 'camp' of it," Powell said.\nPowell said the audience will enter Bat Boy's domain. The inside of the Wells-Metz Theatre will be sprinkled with the cave's stalactites and stalagmites. \n"People are going to feel like they are walking into a cave," said Director of Aud ience Development John Kinzer.\nThe play will be an interactive experience. A few audience members will have seats right on the main floor and be involved in the action. Kinzer warned that this production contains strong sexual content and is meant for mature audiences only.\n"Open your mind and be prepared because it is going to be an experience," Hershner said.\n-- Contact staff writer Jessica Dalsing at jdalsing@indiana.edu.