Little Shop of Horrors Returns to Brown County Schools
~ by Amy Huffman Oliver
The first musical show at Brown County High School’ s auditorium in 1991 was Little Shop of Horrors. On April 12 – 14, 2024, this year’ s drama students will again perform Little Shop of Horrors, a horror-comedy-rock Broadway musical, capping off a busy period of eclipse activities in Brown County.
Little Shop of Horrors is the latest in a long line of drama productions at Brown County High School( BCHS) that date back to the early 1960s. The program started as an after-school club that performed on a makeshift stage in the cafeteria, which students affectionately called the“ cafetorium.”
Starting in 1974, Janice Cassiday, known as“ Mrs. C” to her students, grew the drama program into an academic department that includes acting and technical classes, producing multiple dramas, comedies, and musicals each year. Cassiday is known not only for spearheading the effort to build the professional-grade auditorium at the high school in 1991, but also for positively influencing generations of students until her retirement in 2000.
Danny Webb was a drama student of Cassiday’ s from 1991 to 1998 and now teaches at Brown County Middle School. He shares with his students the effect the program had on his life.“ In the classroom and on the stage, there was no doubt that Janice was all in and committed to creating a professional production. Janice’ s enthusiasm was contagious and created a culture that encouraged students to take pride in the process and final product.”
Dr. Laurie Godfrey, known to her students as“ Doc,” directed the BCHS drama program from 2007
Art by Will Gaunt
to 2021. Godfrey knew the first time she walked into the commons area and saw the theater banners that“ this is a theater school.” She couldn’ t wait to be a part of it.
During her tenure, Godfrey led updates to the light and sound systems and was the driving force to build an outdoor storage unit to preserve scenery and props that could be used again. Godfrey led the drama program to win two state thespian awards in 2012 and 2013. Before her retirement in 2021, Indiana Thespians Hall of Fame inducted Godfrey in recognition of her lifetime of achievement in theater education.
24 Our Brown County • March / April 2024