By Paige Asberry
Staff writer

Hutchinson Community College’s theatre department is premiering its final show of 2023, and it is one that is anticipated by the department.

The show is written and directed by Diedre Mattox, HutchCC theatre and speech professor, and it will be performed Nov. 17-19 in the Gallery Theater in Stringer Fine Arts Building. Nov 17 and Nov. 18 will start at 7 p.m., and the Nov. 19 show at 2 p.m.

“Veiled”is the story of three individuals who each have to embark on a healing journey. Each character receives a little bit of supernatural inspiration that begins in the form of a creepy doll brought to a daycare by a little girl. The girl has been told that the doll is inhabited by the spirits of her ancestors, and it appears that everyone who comes into contact with the doll begins to have paranormal experiences.

Throughout the course of the show, the characters deal with death, addiction, forgiveness, and past trauma.

“The characters are very human, and they have human journeys to travel,” Mattox said “It’s left as a bit of an open question, if there’s actually anything supernatural going on. By the end of the show, though, the characters have connected and become very good friends.”

Mattox talks about how it has been a good experience for her to direct a show that she wrote. “It’s tricky because I have to take off my playwright hat and try to look at the show through the director’s lens,” Mattox said. “It’s really great though, because I’ve gotten a really good final revision of the script through the rehearsal process.”

She said that playwrights that have directing experience can very much benefit from directing a first performance of their own show. This is the first full length show that HutchCC theater has produced that is written and directed by Mattox.

The audience is going to be seated on three sides of the stage for this show, which allows for the actors to move more normally, because it can be assumed that there will be one side of the audience that is always facing the back of an actor. Mattox said that that means “The show is different depending on which side of the stage the audience is sitting on.”

The show features language and adult themes, and is recommended for people 13 and older.

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One thought on “HutchCC theatre set to present final performance of 2023 with ‘Veiled’

  1. Kbay says:

    This article makes no mention of a date and time of the performance. Is the article mere commentary or is an informative aspect possible? Who what how when and why: basic journalism.

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