Jasmine Hall, right, puts makeup on Katie Swafford during rehearsals for “Flowers for Algernon.”Signal Mountain High School’s production of “Flowers for Algernon” opens Thursday, Oct. 31 at 7 p.m. and closes with a matinee Sunday, Nov. 3 at 2 p.m.
Algernon is a mouse that undergoes a surgery to make it more intelligent. The play’s main character, Charlie, has an extremely low IQ and is the first human to have the same surgery as Algernon. The play follows Charlie as his IQ increases and then begins to decrease to below its original level.
John Lennon, director of the theater program at SMHS, said he chose the play for the moral and ethical dilemmas it poses that are becoming more prevalent in today’s society.
“It’s posing a bioethical question: we can do the surgery, but should we?” Lennon said. “The kids have had some amazing discussions about their world and everything going on in it.”
Anna Dieter, a junior who plays Ellen, Mrs. Mooney and a nurse, agreed that the play has brought up several issues among the cast mates.
“I’m kind of on the fence about it,” she said of the issue surrounding surgical procedures that alter the brain. “I think it’s going to be a play that makes you think a lot.”