Aubrey Sweet
Audio By Carbonatix
The Art Centre Theatre in Plano is producing Reefer Madness, an over-the-top musical spoof of a 1930s propaganda film by the same name. The 12-show run is open from April 11 to May 4 and is expected to be the most unhinged show in Dallas this spring.
“The story is a young 16-year-old boy gets exposed to weed and then starts murdering people and having sex with strangers, you know, like an exemplary student turning into a degenerate overnight,” says Shae Hardwick, who directs and plays the lead in half of the showings.
Hardwick says that the musical is worth attending for the shock factor alone. Reefer Madness is already known for its exaggerated portrayal of violence caused by potheads, but Hardwick aims to amp up the animated nature of the show with his portrayal.
“There will be a human centipede in the orgy,” he says casually. “There’s a lot of crazy stuff, but that’s just a hint of what to expect.”
Some fan-favorite songs from the show include “Listen to Jesus, Jimmy,” “The Orgy” and “Romeo and Juliet.”
This is Hardwick’s first time directing, but the 26-year-old actor has been on stage since he was 6, so he has plenty of experience working under good and bad directors. Now that he’s in charge, he does his best to emphasize having a clear, unified vision for the cast and tailors his approach to each cast member based on their individual needs.
“Everybody has different learning styles and different ways they like to be communicated with,” he says.
According to Hardwick, last year’s iteration of Reefer from The ACT cut parts out from the script, and this time he’s opting to stick closer to the source material while upping the obscenity. He also played the lead role last year, so he’s familiar with the show, He wanted to do things differently this year, both as Jimmy Harper and with the play as a whole.
“This year, I want everyone to be on the same wavelength,” Hardwick says. “When we did it last year, it felt like a lot of us were acting in our own little bubbles, and this year, I want the tone to be pretty consistent throughout.”
As anyone with the slightest bit of theater experience knows, no show ever goes off without a hitch. There’s always an issue that halts production or causes the director to pull their hair out, and for Hardwick, it was scheduling. Out of the 27 people he started with in January, 10 dropped out. Eight of them joined halfway through.
The ACT is entirely recreational and for the love of the craft, so it’s hard enough to get people to show up because they aren’t being paid. If rehearsals fall outside of a time convenient for an actor, they aren’t always willing to sacrifice prior commitments. Unfortunately for Hardwick, that meant he had to dust off his sweater vest and puff out his golf cap.
“Originally, I did not want to star in it,” he says. “I did not want to reprise the role, because Jimmy Harper is the lead; he’s off stage two times in a two-hour show. … A situation came up, and about a month into rehearsal, we lost our Jimmy. We started looking for alternatives, so in the meantime, I decided to play the role, and luckily, we at least found someone else to play Jimmy.”
Jaquailyn Martin joined in late February fresh out of a production of Shrek the Musical where he played Donkey. Martin picked up Harper quickly, Hardwick says. Martin was blown away by Hardwick’s performance the year prior.
“One of the things he said after seeing my portrayal of Jimmy last year is that it inspired him to go bigger and that it’s OK to not have reservations,” Hardwick says. “That’s what I love about Reefer Madness. It’s one of those shows where you just get to go up there, do whatever you want and have fun.”
One of the most interesting parts of the show is the inclusion of the audience. The play is carried out as if it were one of those drug-awareness meetings they made you attend back in high school, so the characters talk directly to the people in attendance.
Smoke Show
“Reefer Madness is big on letting you know that you are an audience member,” Hardwick says. “It’s a lecture being put on by a group of high school students, and we’re playing into that a lot. It’s gonna feel a little cheap around the edges, but that’s intentional. It’s for the story.”
Hardwick has also taken inspiration from the Rocky Horror Picture Show‘s use of prop bags to add another layer of interaction for audience members. “Munchy Bags” will be sold at the door and contain various items the audience can pull out to participate in the performance, such as candy cigarettes to join in on a smoke break.
The production has an interesting use of props.
Sean Stroud
Beyond providing a night full of laughs with this out-of-pocket musical, Hardwick also aims to draw a connection between the show’s obscene antics and the scare tactics used by politicians in real life.
“A lot of stuff that I’m adding is not necessarily in the script, but adds to that effect of what propaganda is supposed to be,” he says. “It’s the heightened, over-exaggeration of the negatives of weed.”
The Texas Senate recently passed Bill 3, which would prevent the sale of any cannabinoid in Texas, except for CBD and CBG. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is a driving force behind this movement and has mentioned leveraging his power to block other bills from passing to push the THC ban forward.
“There aren’t many things you go down that path for, but the life and health of people is one,” he said to the The Texas Tribune after Bill 3 was passed 24 to 7. “I couldn’t, in good conscience, leave here knowing if we don’t do something about it in the next two years, how many kids get sick?”
“Protecting the children” is undoubtedly an honorable cause, but when the 7,000 cases of child exposure to cannabis edibles from 2017 to 2021 are held against the 147,000 underage drinkers who landed in the ER in 2021 alone, a reasonable person has to wonder what the real problem is, and whether government officials are targeting THC for the reasons they say they are.
“When they’re banning marijuana, it’s not because of the drug, it’s about who uses the drug and who they can scapegoat,” Hardwick says.
The Art Centre Theatre (1400 Summit Ave., Suite E, Plano) is a nonprofit, so all of the money from ticket sales goes directly to the theater to be used for future performances. Tickets can be bought for $20 at the door or online at artcentretheatre.com.
