The chances of the DHS auditorium stage becoming a flower shop on Skid Row are definitely slim … but never zero.  

On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, the Drama Club will be bringing “Little Shop of Horrors” to the stage. It’s an edge-of-your-seat musical about the chance encounter between a meek florist and a talking plant with a taste for fresh blood. 

Joining the actors on the stage will be the giant plant itself.

“I think it’s going to be pretty cool, and I saw (junior) Rylee (Burton)  building the frame yesterday, and it was friggin’ gigantic, and I’m scared I’m gonna fall in the pit,” freshman Avery Moss said.

This plant, actually named Audrey II, isn’t just an insanely impressive prop. Rather, it’s a character.

Now, you might be confused. How is a prop supposed to be a character? 

Props can’t talk, or move, or sing.

But this prop will. 

To give you a visual, Audrey II pretty closely resembles a venus fly trap, but with lips and a mouth full of  sharp teeth. 

Sophomore Kevin Rhue will puppeteer the mouth’s movements, opening it and closing it to correlate to the singing and spoken lines of junior Max Smeltzer, who is the voice of Audrey II.

Even more impressive, the Audrey II has four versions that are used in the musical. 

“One cool design we have going on with it is that we have ribbed teeth that will be more prominent throughout the versions, and version two is the first version where you can actually start to see the prominent features that actually make it scary,” Rhue said. 

Audrey II starts small, and as it grows throughout the story, so will the prop. Becoming larger and much more intimidating with each new version introduced.

The puppeteering will be constant throughout the different versions of the plant, though techniques will vary based on size. Going from simple hand puppeteering on smaller versions to using a big lever for Audrey II’s larger versions.