Every year, the department of theatre and dance puts on performances that engage the audience and give student performers the chance to showcase their skills. This month, the department is presenting “Into the Woods.”

“Into the Woods” is a musical based on a variety of nostalgic fairytales, said Riley Morrissey, a sophomore from Louisville. 

“I think everyone should come see ‘Into the Woods’ because it’s basically every fairytale that people grew up with put together, and it’s what happens after all of the happily ever afters,” she said.

Morrissey is playing the role of Little Red Riding Hood, her first lead at WKU. She said it has been a challenging but very rewarding process. 

“I am most excited about this being my first lead at WKU, and it’s been a really exciting rehearsal process,” she said. “I have so many really, really good friends in the show, so it’s just been fun to work on all of it with them.”

For the actors, one of the best parts of doing the show is getting to connect with the cast and have fun, according to Jordan Lee, a Louisville freshman who is cast as Snow White. 

“I’m looking forward to just continuing to get to know the people in the cast because we have so much fun together,” said Lee. 

The play premieres when the actors’ favorite part of the process begins. 

Morrissey said her favorite part is “the actual showing process, when I get to actually have everyone I love get to see what I’ve been working on for so long.”

The show focuses on connectivity and how to rely on others, according to Colin Waters, a sophomore from Florence who is playing Jack. 

“We are really focusing a lot on the theme of connectedness, and I think in our society today, we are so focused on everybody for themselves and everybody trying to get through life alone,” Waters said, “but we really need to figure out that no one is alone in whatever you go through — that somebody’s always there to walk you through.” 

“The theatre department at WKU is just a very supportive and nurturing program,” said Waters. “It’s a nice program that lets you become who you are as a performer [and] lets you recognize that you were not going to be the same performer as any other person.”

The cast and crew are performing six shows beginning tonight, Thursday at 8:00 p.m. in Russell Miller Theatre in the Fine Arts Center.