The Powell High School drama club is not letting the fact that Halloween has come and gone from adopting a spooky theme for this semester’s production. 

“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” adapted by Tracy Wells, is playing Friday and Saturday at the Powell High School Auditorium, starting at 7 each night. Tickets cost $10 for adults, $8 for students and are available at the door. 

Senior Anika Anderson, who plays protagonist Ichabod Crane himself (she initially auditioned for the lead female role but there aren’t many male actors this year) said the club has leaned into the spooky theme this year. The spring musical, for instance, is “Beetlejuice.” 

“We’re spooky this year,” she said.

Anderson has been in theater all four years of high school.

“I really like drama,” she said while dressed in her frilly 19th century getup. “I use it to just escape from reality, and it’s fun to get to dress up in clothes I wouldn’t normally wear.”

According to the play script, the spooky play with some comedic elements — such as Crane’s ridiculously large shoes — adopted from Washington Irving’s classic tale, “brings the eerie charm of colonial America to life in a spooky and delightfully witty stage production. When quirky schoolmaster Ichabod Crane arrives in the mysterious village of Sleepy Hollow, he hopes to find purpose, community and maybe even love. But whispers of a fearsome ghost — the Headless Horseman — haunt the woods, and Ichabod quickly finds himself entangled in the disappearances of neighbors, supernatural intrigue and a romantic rivalry over the beautiful and intelligent Katrina Van Tassel.”

The play, the description adds, is “filled with lively townsfolk, laugh-out-loud moments and a chilling climax.”

Tassel is played by junior Chloe Camp, who is performing on stage for the first time after working backstage last year. 

“One of my friends said that it would be fun if I tried out,” Camp recalled. “I wasn’t expecting to get any big role, but I did. So it’s kind of exciting, but I think it’s going to be fun.”

She said it’s got her considering going for another onstage role in the spring musical. 

Junior Reina Hanson has always wanted to be in the spotlight, having done theater most of her life and grown up watching musicals. 

“I’ve always wanted to be the center of attention from a young age, and I’ve always yes, I’ve always loved the spotlight on me,” she said. “I love it when everything’s about me. So naturally, theater gave me that opportunity to just really be out there and say ‘I’m here’ without being ashamed.”

This time around she’s playing Crane’s rival, and said she’s happy to play one of the villains, boorish local brute Brom Bones. 

Of course, being in the spotlight requires someone to provide the spotlight, and this year a sophomore has taken over that responsibility. 

Maysyn Schuler helped out on lights last year, but this year it’s all her, so she’s absorbed the lessons she learned last year. 

“Your light should be felt and not seen, because you don’t want to take away from what’s going on on stage, but you also want to make sure that there’s enough going on that it brings like a subtlety to it,” she explained. “What I think is the most important is making sure your actors are visible when they need to be, but then also adding different elements into it, like trying to convey something, someone’s feeling based off the colors that are going on.”

Cast List

Ichabod Crane: Anika Anderson

Brom Bones: Reina Hanson

Storyteller: Natalie Warner

Katrina Van Tassel: Chloe Camp

Lady Van Tassel: Addi Hopkins

Selectman Faber: Elizabeth Halberstadt

Constable Hendricks: Riku Cook

Widow Jansen: Elliana Wolfe

Diedrich/Deirdra: Alex Turner

Iris Jansen: Addy Snell

Jozef/Joanna: Bowie (Reagan) Reynolds

Xander/Zara: Lilly Owen

Fleur/Floris: Niko (Morra) Jessup

Lars: Charles Kellett

Beatrix: Cassidi Van Lake

Aleta: Lydia Waite

Gertie: Violet Peterson

Agatha (witch): Ruth Bucher

Esmee (witch): Vivienne Dodd

Margriet (witch): Kaylee Harris

Tavern Waitress: Moe Blevins

Tavern Dweller #1: Niko (Morra) Jessup

Tavern Dweller #2: Ellieh Mayhe Vanderveer

Headless Horseman’s Body: Audrey Hultgren

Headless Horseman’s Voice: Ian Gibson

Townspeople: Ellieh Mayhe Vanderveer, Odessa Thull

Stage Manager: Ellora Blevins

Lights: Maysyn Schuler

Spotlight: Maddison Sagrilla

Marketing: Cassidi Van Lake, Estrella Gonzales

Props/Painting: Mylah Blevins, Alex Turner, Ellora Blevins, Maverick Nicholson, Colt (Bailey) Urwiller, Brielle Larson

Sound: Nora Walsh

Costumes: Cassidi Van Lake, Lydia Waite