Last weekend, students took the stage for the fall production of The Outsiders.

The play had everyone emotionally invested and watching at all times. Director Jamie Brandstadter said, “ I knew the story was intense and emotional, but I still don’t think that I was emotionally prepared for just how heavy it was.”

Junior Eliza Burrage agreed about the seriousness of the play but enjoyed the gender bending of roles in the play. “What surprised me the most was how well some of our girls were able to play as males or some of the approaches that were taken with it.” The creative liberties that the cast took really surprised Burrage.

Everyone tapped into parts of themselves to portray their characters to the fullest. Brandstadter said, “Everyone did a wonderful job connecting to and empathizing with their characters.”

Burrage talks about who was the most like their characters, namely senior Caitlyn Laird. “Knowing her, she was able to bring some real life aspects to make it happen.”

The heaviness of the story made it difficult to tell and sometimes difficult for the actors to portray their characters. Burrage said that “seeing which way I would want to approach the way the dialogue was spoken was really challenging.” She said that having to think on the spot and quickly change emotions was challenging as well.

“Dover tapped into a new level of acting with this production,” Brandstadter said. The depiction of this play wasn’t totally accurate to the book and movie, but adding your own elements and bringing something new to the production is what it’s all about.

The Outsiders was extremely entertaining and very successful all across the board.