The senior ensemble of Turlock Youth Performing Arts is going to the dark side with a more mature subject matter – death by plant. TYPA will present their rendition of “Little Shop of Horrors” this weekend at the Turlock Community Theatre, and the musical ventures where no TYPA production has gone before.

“People die, that’s new for TYPA. Usually we stick to fairy tales, so this is more of an adult concept,” said director Janice Anderson.

Anderson said that several previous TYPA productions have had elements of good and evil. “Beauty and the Beast,” for example, had a scene where Beast died and came back to life. In “Little Shop of Horrors” people very obviously die, and are fed to a giant blood thirsty plant. The rough edges have been smoothed over, however, and the language was cleaned up to make the production more family friendly.

The cast of “Little Shop of Horrors” has been practicing for three hours every week since May. The main cast includes several veteran actors. Ethan Hennes, a senior at Pitman High School, plays the main character Seymour. This is his second TYPA production, but he has also acted in Pitman High plays. He said he loves the movie version of “Little Shop of Horrors.”

“I love this character specifically, I tried out because I wanted to play Seymour,” Hennes said.

Audry, Seymour’s love interest, is played by Angeleigha Arnold, a junior at Pitman High. She has been in two other TYPA productions, but this is her first lead role.

“I’ve never had a lead role before, and I’ve also never died. Or been eaten by a plant, so that’s another first,” Arnold joked.

“Little Shop of Horrors” will open on Friday at 7 p.m. at the Turlock Community Theater. They also have a 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. show on Saturday, and a 2 p.m. show on Sunday. For more information about upcoming TYPA productions, visit TYPA.org.

To contact Andrea Goodwin, e-mail agoodwin@turlockjournal.com or call 634-9141 ext. 2003.