Hawk Theater Company will perform “The Little Mermaid,” a musical about the Disney mermaid princess, in the auditorium Jan. 23-26. 

 “We’ve got tons of really talented young women at Hebron, so we wanted something that could feature them,” director Ramina Mirmortazavir said. “There are also lots of big dance numbers, which is a real strength that our students have — we’ve got amazing dancers here. We knew it would be fun and that the community would really enjoy it.”

The play was chosen because of the predominant availability of female characters but the production will also feature students and directors from other fine arts programs. Senior Krishna Nair plays Prince Eric, and this will be his first time in a leading role in a musical. 

“The other musicals that I have been a part of I’ve just had speaking roles or ensemble, but this is my first actual lead. I have to see [choir director Nathan] Ratliff to work on my singing, and I actually started voice lessons. So it’s just a lot of preparation,” Nair said. 

Besides the large cast of actors, singers and dancers, there is a need for many technical theater students due to the constantly changing settings. The technical aspects require interchangeable, mobile pieces in the production and set lighting. 

“From the other musicals in the past that I’ve seen, this musical doesn’t have a permanent, ‘on stage at all times’ set,” junior set head Amanda Godfrey said. “We have custom built set pieces that come on and off stage continuously. Lights in this show will be very technical heavy since there isn’t a permanent or big set to distinguish the setting. Lights will incorporate the emotions of dramatic scenes and represent the ocean water.”  

A big aspect of the production are the technicians in charge of overseeing the “flying” and navigating the actors in harnesses. The fly crew will use ropes to use the weight of the person in the harness to move the performers up and down and from stage right to stage left.

“It is kind of stressful being a technician on the show, but I know it will all be worth it when the show opens because of how hard the techies and actors have been working,” Godfrey said. 

The pit will consist of band and orchestra students who will perform the music and sound effects. Alongside the actors will be choir, Silver Wings, and technical theater students. The collaboration of the fine arts programs help contribute to the overall success of the production. 

 “You’ve got the band director conducting and the choir director who teaches all the vocals and plays [in] the pit,” Mirmortazavir said. “So it’s such a beautiful labor of love with all of us, and I’m just really excited for everyone to see what we’ve created.”