After many months of hard work and dedication from a talented cast and crew, Missouri State T&D Department’s In Vain is ready to hit the stage!

Seventeen-year-old Vivian has led a most sheltered life. The only child of eccentric Hollywood actress Madeline Wilde, Vivian has been hidden away in a gated mansion without mirrors, forbidden to see her own image. Following Madeline’s untimely death, Vivian’s stunning beauty is finally revealed to the world at her mother’s funeral. Award-winning celebrity photographer Andi Marco shoots a portrait that captures Vivian’s outward perfection, and Vivian makes a fateful wish to remain as young and beautiful as she is at that moment. As the years pass and her sins pile up, Vivian’s physical appearance remains eerily unchanged; however, the portrait, which she has hidden in her basement, has a life of its own! A witty new spin on Oscar Wilde’s gothic novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” In Vain satirizes pop culture’s obsession with youth, beauty and fame. To get the insider scoop on the process of getting In Vain performance ready, we interviewed Peyton Nicholson, a member of the ensemble and an understudy for the role of Brandon.

To give us insight into the underlying themes present in the show, Peyton explained, “This brand-new musical follows Vivian Wilde and how stardom brings out the worst in her and destroys her life. The show focuses a lot on how damaging social media and Hollywood can be to someone and how it can affect them and everyone else in their lives.” This cast has had to deal with some difficult subject matter, and in the handling of such, spent a lot of time getting closer and comfortable with each other. Peyton expanded on this by saying, “Dealing with the difficult subject matter has brought us very close as a cast. We have put a lot of focus on creating a safe and respectful rehearsal environment so everyone can do their best work. This has been very helpful and has strengthened our bond as a cast as well as our overall performances.”

On the technical side of things, we checked in with Costume Designer and T&D student, Garner, who has been toiling with the task of getting the actors clothed for opening night. When asked about their experience in costuming for this show, Garner responded, “Because this show focuses so heavily on body image and features combat it was important to keep an open dialogue with the actors about their costumes. […] An important feature of the original design concept was to further blur the lines of gendered clothing for the young people in the night club. This meant some actors would be in styles they may not have ever considered for themselves before.” However, despite the obstacles and challenges it seems costuming for this concept of In Vain has presented them, Garner expressed thankfulness in the receptiveness of the cast in embracing changes quickly and being open to stepping out of their comfort zones.

All members of the cast, crew, and design teams of this production have worked their hardest to bring In Vain to the stage. And what’s a musical without an audience? To support our faculty and students and their efforts to continue to bring us exceptional live theatre, you can purchase tickets for In Vain by clicking here.