On Oct. 28, the audience gathered for the final performance of The Legend of Sleepy Hollow in the Black Box Theatre in the Eliza R. Snow Building.
The production was directed by Roger Merrill from a script by Frederick Gaines. The play is based on Washington Irving’s 1820 short story, and the production starred Nathan McCombs as Ichabod Crane.
According to the Theatre Department, “Ichabod Crane, a bumbling eccentric schoolmaster, moves to a superstitious town haunted by a headless horseman. A Puritan who constantly quotes Cotton Mather, Ichabod insists he is not superstitious.”
McCombs says that the cast was chosen last semester, and they read through the lines of Sleepy Hollow last semester.
“But our first legit rehearsal was the start of the semester … Sept. 28,” McCombs said.
McCombs explains that for a play like Sleepy Hollow precision is crucial for the cast members. Before rehearsals, they were required to have their lines memorized.
“Literally throughout the whole of summer break we were asked to like be off book before the start of the (fall) semester,” McCombs said.
In his final thoughts, McCombs describes what BYU-I students and the Rexburg community can expect from the Sleepy Hollow event.
“It’s up to interpretation because it’s just like we don’t know if this is all in Ichabod’s head, or if all these nightmares that’s happening with the Headless Horseman is real or not,” said McCombs. “… we made a bunch of theories backstage.”
