San Diego State University’s Musical Theatre Club presented “Carrie,” directed by Savannah Comer and choreographed by Brice Daniel, in the Experimental Theatre from Nov. 6-9.

“Carrie” is most known for its 1976 film, based on Stephen King’s novel about an outcast teenage girl who is bullied and lives with her religious fanatic mother. The titular character, Carrie, later discovers she has special, telekinetic powers.

“Even the most minor things in high school can feel like life or death, and this is really like a dramatization of a terrible thing that happened to this girl that ended up being life or death,” said Director Savannah Comer. “The main message of ‘Carrie’ is that it costs absolutely nothing to be kind.”

“Carrie” incorporates heavy technical elements, including special effects, lighting, sound and costume. The prom scene is one of the most iconic scenes in “Carrie”; it contains heavy blood, sound and lighting elements.“I say jump and they say how high,” said Comer when describing her technical and management team.

“I had to find ASMR chiropractor videos and then I had to add in a knuckle cracking effect, and then lastly I did a reverb effect on Qlab to make it reverberate so it felt more full,” said Sound Designer, Ryder Rocha, about the process of creating the death of Tommy Ross in the prom scene. 

The blood-dumping scene during Carrie’s prom is the climax of the entire show, spotlighting the most important factor: the blood.

“The blood is cranberry juice, paint for the color, and most surprisingly, hot cocoa mix. Then some nights, cornstarch,” said Special Effects Designer Caroline Quanstrom. 

“The cocoa mix changes the way it dries, so normally it would just dry with the paint, it would dry matte, but the cocoa mix keeps that kind of metallic texture,” Quanstrom said. “So when it dries on people, it dries like blood, not paint.”

Quanstrom experimented with different materials, finding that a majority paint-based solution worked the best. She got the final base in only two tries. 

“Costumes and SFX worked more than we had expected,” said Co-Costume Designer Natalie White. 

This heavy workload is due to the amount of blood in the play and the specific parts of the show that it affects. The costume designers even needed to have five of the same dress because of the difficulty in removing the stains caused by the blood.

Not only do the technical elements play a significant role in the show, but the acting and choreography further contribute to the darker themes of “Carrie.” 

“You might feel like you’re the most powerful person in school, but you’re probably hurting from the inside too,” said Choreographer Brice Daniel. “I wanted the cast to feel fierce while doing it, and they look really fierce. Fierce encapsulates confidence, power and presence.”

Comer’s direction of “Carrie” allowed these actors to grow not only as actresses but also as humans.

“Sue’s empathy is something that I will carry with me from now on,” said Avery Henkenius, who played Sue Snell.

“The content of the show is pretty intense because of the bullying,” Henkenius said. “It’s kind of hard to do it on stage when you are friends with everyone. What was important was that we were all friends with each other and connected with each other.”

“Savannah pushed me to explore the different dimensions of my character,” said Lei Crowley, who played Chris Hargensen. “It’s really easy when you are playing a mean bully to play a mean bully.  [I was] making sure Chris didn’t feel like a mean bully, but an honest character and someone realistic.”

From behind the scenes to onstage, the audience members praised the cast, crew and creative team.

“The dynamic of Carrie and her mom grabbed my attention,” said Kaliegh Gunsiorowski, an audience member. “[It] kind of made me uncomfortable in a good way.”

Two different attendees agreed on how strong the casting was and how the experienced actors and dancers were a highlight of the show.

One attendee stated that Ashley Roche and Kassidy King, who played Carrie White and Margaret White, delivered standout performances.

Beyond the technical elements of MTC’s production, “Carrie” created a show that not only united its cast but also taught the audience that it doesn’t take much to be kind.