Mater Lakes thespians use STEAM preparing for 'Little Shop of Horros'

Mater Lakes Academy’s Thespian Society, under the direction of Krista Flores and Christina Hummingbird, is getting ready to present their first musical of the school year “Little Shop of Horrors.”
As Mater Lakes’ fifth production in partnership with Miami Dade College, “Little Shop of Horrors” will be performed in the Lehman Theatre February 21 through 23.
This comical and one-of-a-kind show follows a few quirky characters working in a flower shop on an urban skid row in the 1960’s. The story begins with the main character, awkward and clumsy Seymour Krelborn who is played by sophomore Israel Paredes and his plan to both restore business for his flower shop and win the heart of his coworker Audrey who happens to be the love of his life.
Krelborn introduces a seemingly innocent looking plant, a cross between a venus flytrap and an avocado, which soon develops an appetite for human blood. As the plant grows larger Krelborn is faced with the sticky mess he has created, being forced to choose between success and romance or protecting humanity from the man-eating monster he has created.
The star of the show happens to be the horrifying and blood thirsty plant named Audrey II and has been the biggest challenge of all for the Mater Lakes Thespians. Audrey II is it’s own moving, talking and singing character brought to life through four stages of puppets.
Jaily Gomez and Veronica Ginzo, two juniors and inducted Thespians at Mater Lakes Academy were tasked with planning and constructing the four puppets STEAM project, and have been brainstorming ideas since the end of their sophomore year. Gomez, Ginzo and their team of three other high school students, fellow junior Adriana Gonzalez and seniors Michael Rodriguez and Sergui Velez, have been hard at work bringing their ideas to life for the past eight months and are still working to get the Audrey II performance ready for the production looming just around the corner.
Each puppet represents a different phase of the plant’s growth with the first puppet having a pod roughly four inches tall and six inches long and the fourth puppet reaching nearly five and a half feet in height and seven feet in length. Puppeteered by several dedicated Thespian members and voiced by senior Yoel Ferrer, these puppets are sure to make the audience gasp in horror and chuckle with delight.