FPA presents "The Shawshank Redemption"

Oct. 13—LENOIR — Starting this weekend, Foothills Performing Arts (FPA) will perform an adaptation of Stephen King's novella, "The Shawshank Redemption."

Tonight, Friday, Oct. 14, is opening night. The show will run tonight, Saturday night (Oct. 15), and Sunday, Oct. 16, and next weekend, Friday, Oct. 21 through Sunday, Oct. 23. Friday and Saturday shows will begin at 7:30 p.m., and Sunday shows will begin at 2:30 p.m.

In "The Shawshank Redemption," Andy Dufresne is wrongly accused of murder and incarcerated in the Shawshank Penitentiary. The show follows Andy through his journey from arriving at the prison to his discovery of his own freedom.

"The show is not very close to the movie," said Amber Biecker, director and chair of the board at FPA. "It's more closely related to the book. It's a lot shorter. Some of the characters are the same, and the audience will recognize some of the scenes from the movie. But there are some things in the play that are not in the movie, so it will be a good surprise for them."

FPA is the first theater company in North Carolina to be granted the rights for this show. The play, which was adapted by Owen O'Neill and Dave Johns, first premiered in Ireland in 2009.

Biecker and the cast have worked diligently to bring this vision to life in the auditorium of the Campus at historic Lenoir High School (1114 College Ave. SW, Lenoir).

"In the space that we're in, it's hard to have a realistic setting," said Biecker. "Everything is very suggestive, and the actors manipulate all of the set pieces to morph into different parts of the prison for each scene. The benches that we have, we see them out in the yard just like the bleachers from the movie. Then they turn into the tables in the library and the long table in the dining room. We flip them around and they become the roof for the famous roof scene that audiences will recognize if they're familiar with the movie."

One of the cast members, Andrew Atkin, is a local artist who donated his time to paint the background sets to look like cinder block prison walls.

"I like to think of it as a special kind of magic that they're making on stage," Biecker said. "These guys have done such a great job of transforming these pieces of wood into the cinder block walls of the prison and the benches and tables. We're taking the audience to all these different places right here in the same room."

Biecker feels it is both exhilarating and challenging to produce shows that have mature themes rather than family-friendly material.

"It's always difficult in our community to produce those things because we do have a lot of young families who want to bring kids out to see things," she said. "It's also exciting to produce a show that is targeted towards an older audience, like from ages 25 to 45 or 50. Some younger folks will come to see the show, and some folks who are older will come to see the show, but folks that are 25 to 50 are probably very familiar with 'Shawshank' when it came out. It's exciting to be able to bring that to them in another format."

Biecker is extremely proud of her incredibly talented cast of men from Caldwell County and the surrounding area.

"I'm very excited about this cast," she said. "There are 13 roles minimum in the show, and you can expand it up to 25 actors. It's a little intimidating because that's the largest cast we've had in quite awhile ... The quality of the actors we have is just awesome. We have a couple folks who are new to Foothills Performing Arts and a couple folks who are brand new to the stage, and you wouldn't even be able to tell because they're doing such a great job."

Cody Watson, assistant director, stars as Andy Dufresne.

"It's been an experience," Watson said about the play's process the last few months. "It's a grueling show, it's a grueling performance, but these guys are giving it literally everything they've got."

Watson has been involved in theater productions for over 15 years at FPA, Hickory Community Theater (HCT), Old Colony Players in Valdese, and as a student at Lenoir-Rhyne University.

Jordan Randall, who plays the part of Ellis "Red" Redding, has also been involved in theater for about 15 years. Many theater-goers in the area will recognize Randall from numerous theater productions at FPA, HCT, and the Green Room Community Theater in Newton, among many others.

"I honestly didn't know that this was a play when I heard about it," said Randall. "I definitely wanted to be a part of that, tell that story in a live aspect. Obviously, it's a really cool thing to be able to take on a role that was played by an actor I admire, Morgan Freeman. I'm not trying to be him, but I definitely appreciate what he brought to the role, and hopefully I can bring my own thing, as well."

The cast is very excited to present this show, which due to COVID-19 restrictions is almost two years in the making, to the community.

"It's a great show," said Biecker. "It's really high-quality entertainment, and we want to encourage people to support the arts in the area. People make a big deal about going to the movies and going to shows on Broadway and shows that tour, but a lot of people got their start in local community theater. These guys are giving it their all, and we really hope that people will come out and appreciate all the hard work that they've put in."

Tickets for the shows are $15 for adults and $10 for students. The performance is rated R, as there is language, violence, and adult situations. Interested theater patrons can purchase tickets at the box office, online at fpatheatre.org, or by calling FPA at 828-726-2318.

"Be ready; tread lightly," Randall advised. "The show is filled with language and a bit of violence ... but it's a good show, it's a lot of fun, and it tells a very important story."

Visit Foothills Performing Arts on Facebook for additional information.