As the lights dimmed and the spotlight shined, junior Liam Dye, as Constantine, stood upon the stage and performed his lines for the first time as a show’s lead.

The thespians performed the Fall drama, “I Heard You Were Dead” by Don Zolidis, Sept. 25-28.

“It’s about kids dealing with stuff that is way beyond what kids should be expected to deal with, but in a really positive, sweet way,” director Adam Hargrove said.

The play follows 16-year-old Constantine Wright, who during his sophomore year was diagnosed with leukemia, as he returns to school his junior year and attempts to get with his crush, Chloe, with the help of his best friend, Piper.

Hargrove said they rehearsed the play around twenty times over the course of five weeks.

“It takes a lot of readjustment, and time is sort of your enemy in those situations,” Hargrove says. “We have to deal with kids getting sick and kids being out.”

It was an important show for many of the cast members, with several taking the spotlight for the first time. 

“A lot of the cast is underclassmen, new people, which is pretty interesting,” senior stage manager Alana Rendon said. “It’s my first year as stage manager by myself.”

“I think it’s all three of the leads first time leading a show,” Dye said. “That’s going to be really memorable for all of us.”

The drama cost around $300-$400 to produce, most of which came from royalties. Many of the props were recycled or reused stock material that they had access to. One prop that was created for the show was a book puppet with eyes.

“I pulled stuff out while my class was working on stuff,” Hargrove said. “I knocked it together and then glued some ping pong balls to the back of a glove to eyes on the little hand.”

The play was performed four times at the Black Box theater production.

When asked what he would remember the most, Hargrove said, “I’ll just remember the kids and the production. Seeing that particular group of kids come together for this particular show or this particular reason was pretty amazing.”