‘Treasure Island’ sets sail for homecoming weekend

Story by Sarah Baker, Editor

The first Baker University theater production of the fall term is “Treasure Island” and it aligns with homecoming weekend.

The story of “Treasure Island” features a fatherless young boy who is given a treasure map and goes on an adventure with the pirate Long John Silver and his crew. It was originally a children’s novel written by Robert Louis Stevenson and was later adapted for the stage.

The director, Associate Professor of Theater Tom Heiman, said that there is something unique about this particular production.

“This particular version is a little bit different,” Heiman said. “It’s the karaoke version of the show. ‘It’s Raining Men’ is featured in it. Just about all ’60 and ’70s classic rock songs are in there — it just gets crazy.”

Senior Jesse Miller, who is playing the pirate Long John Silver, said the audience should be prepared for the craziness of the show.

“You have the classic story of ‘Treasure Island,’ and that thing is older than our parents, take that, turn it upside down and add in bright colors, a disco ball and feather boas,” Miller said. “That is what we are putting on [stage].”

To add to the “craziness” some of the humor in the play is at a level that adults will understand the jokes, but they will not make sense to kids.

“Our cast was blushing several times during the read-through, [they were] saying, ‘Are we going to read this in front of kids?’ So we think it will go over pretty well with the college audience,” Heiman said.

Senior Mackenzie Sammons, who will be a parrot in the show, related the humor to some Disney movies, because adults can understand some humor that sometimes goes over the kids’ heads.

“This version is what we call an ’80s disco karaoke party. While it is still a children’s show, it has some adult humor in it,” Sammons said. “So we think college kids would like the craziness of it. It is kind of like the humor in Disney movies. There is enough adult humor in it that the adults would be like, ‘Ah-ha’ but the kids would be like, ‘Oh, that’s just funny.'”

The play will run Oct. 1-3 at 7:30 p.m. in Rice Auditorium and will finish with a Sunday matinee on Oct. 4 at 2 p.m.