Cursed on the stage

Witch, check.

Curse, check.

Murder, check.

“Salem’s Daughter” is not purely a Halloween story, but it hits the right notes for the spooky season.

Jay County Junior-Senior High School’s drama club’s production of the Craig Sodaro play opens with a performance at 7 p.m. Friday in the school’s auditorium. Additional shows are set for 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

“We’re doing it because it kind of has that Halloween theme,” said director Cain Bilbrey. “We’re doing it the weekend before Halloween. That’s kind of why we chose it.”

The show opens in 1691, approximately the era of the Salem witch trials, with a woman being falsely accused of being a witch. Sentenced to hang, she curses anyone who would “disturb her rest.”

It then shifts to present day and focuses on a small party being held at the home of a teenager named Heather. Her house was built on the hill where the witches were buried.

“Long story short, they do a little bit of excavating and wind up digging up her bones,” said Bilbrey. “Of which Heather and her family put in a paper bag in the garage.”

The story progresses from there, with Heather and her friends dealing with the consequences of disturbing the “witch’s” bones.

They then must work through the implications of their own actions.

“We have drama,” Bilbrey said. “There’s some comedy as far as teenage angst. And hopefully it keeps the audience thinking.”

The cast features Aeroelet Cooke as Heather. Sammie Sager, Alivia Toney, Cheyenne Ladewig, Allie McAbee and Tessa Miller play her friends Jennifer, Jeannie, Marcy, Dottie and Toni, respectively. The rest of the cast includes Lane Stephens, Labibah Awliya, Natalee Hough, Lucy Smith, Ava Smith and Maley Recker.

Amongst the group, Miller and Sager are the lone seniors.

Bilbrey is hopeful that the show can serve as something of a re-launch for the school’s drama program, which has not put on a full-length show in two-and-a-half years.

Its last full production was the comedic murder mystery “Offed at the Bake-Off” in spring 2021.

Tickets for the show are $5 and will be available at the door.

“We have a lot of talented kids here,” said Bilbrey, encouraging the community to come out and support the students. “We’ve not had a show here for a while. And I really want this program to succeed.”