Shut up, Georgetown! Heathers is Taking the Stage

Scrunchies. Croquet. Virgins. Forgery. Murder. Pocketed quietly away in Village C, a high school girl bathed in the spotlight recounts to the audience with her diary entry on the first day of school. The audience hangs on to her every word, perfectly curled hair, and angelic intonation. Her eyes are hopeful and kind, but the surrounding darkness holds a sinister foreshadow of her future—how long until that hope is replaced with a vengeful menace?

Preparation for this performance started before classes even began as Georgetown student theater group Nomadic Theatre’s production team began working on their fall student production of Heathers: The Musical, the famed cult classic based on the 1988 film. The show debuted on Nov. 6, with seven subsequent performances from the cast’s 16 members.

Directed by Daniel Waters, the story was inspired by Waters’s own fascination with cults, high school dynamics, and the female identity. The satirical nature of the film took the entire genre of teen movies by storm. Pre-Heathers depictions of high school catered to a more idyllic nature of the teenage years, featured in movies like Sixteen Candles (1984), The Breakfast Club (1985), and Ferris Bueller’s Days Off (1986). Heathers, on the other hand, transformed the then-charming teenage drama to a stomach-turning exposé on the pits of hell lurking inside the walls of a public high school. This made high school the perfect landscape for horror, only slightly dramatizing the reality of high school, but mostly staying true to the transparency to the harrowing pits of hell that high school truly is. The impacts of this film opened avenues to many beloved teen movies of our generation, such as Mean Girls (2004), Jennifer’s Body (2009), and The Perks of Being a Wallflower (2012).

Image Credit: Timothy Mackabee

The story is told through the perspective of Veronica Sawyers (Makenna Fadis, CAS ’29), your typical high school weirdo who just wants to make it out of school alive. Her entire trajectory is uprooted once she befriends the Heathers, three girls of the same name at the top of an unforgiving social food chain. Along with this budding friendship, she begins to fall for the mysterious indie bad boy, Jason Dean “J.D.” (Marre Gaffigan, CAS ’26).

As a diehard Heathers fan since seventh grade, the musical had been marked on my Google Calendar since the moment the dates were announced. I had the opportunity to view the show on one of these dates, fulfilling my lifelong dream to finally watch Heathers live. To say my expectations were met would be a crude understatement. This student-led production rivaled the quality of a professional performance, complete with live music, a dynamic set, and a star-studded cast.

Faddis’ performance perfectly embodied the likes of Barrett Wilbert Weed, the originator of Veronica on Broadway. She delivered a powerful performance, capturing the moral conflict tearing the character apart. I was awestruck by Faddis’ vocal capability, especially her solo, “Seventeen.” But the pièce de résistance to Faddis’ portrayal lay in Veronica’s electric chemistry with J.D.

Gaffigan actualized every tenet of J.D. that makes the character the rebellious heartthrob Veronica falls for. J.D.’s vindictive nature and pathetic self-deprecating complex were all exhibited through Gaffigan’s confident and seductive performance. However, I was not entirely convinced of their capability to do true justice to J.D.—until the moment Gaffigan sang their first note. Gaffigan’s vocal talent cannot be understated, giving depth to the rule through J.D.’s most iconic songs, “Freeze Your Brain” and their joining with Faddis on “Seventeen.” The romance between the characters was executed masterfully by both actors, truly capturing the sex-driven toxicity that frames their relationship.

Of course, the show would not be complete without the iconic Heathers themselves: the queen bee Heather Chandler (Maddie McGill, CAS ’29), the power-hungry Heather Duke (Chiara Volpi, SFS ’28), and the naive Heather McNamara (Margie Conner, SON ’28). The three balanced one another perfectly, with each stepping into the respective personalities of their character. I found myself truly intimidated by McGill, who took on every characteristic mean girl quality, her ruthless demeanor, the signature red color palette, and a constant cunning glimmer in her eye. Similarly, Volpi and Conner stepped into their roles to create a perfect Heathers trifecta. Volpi’s Heather Duke grabbed control of the narrative soon after the death of Heather Chandler, characterized by her powerful voice and stern attitude, contrasting Conner’s Heather McNamara, showcasing her innocence, but equally traumatized reaction to the death.

With the aforementioned characters structuring the darker themes of the play, many others provided the sweet comic relief that kept the comedy part of the dark comedy alive. Your stereotypical jocks—Ram Sweeney (Massimo D’Onofrio, CAS ’28) and Kurt Kelley (Rishi Bharadwaj, CAS ’27)—had me rolling my eyes from teenage boy testosterone energy, but also the charming quality every football player somehow carries. Their disarming, frat-like performance made me forget these kids are probably theatre nerds in real life.

The actors behind Ms. Fleming and Veronica’s sweet best friend Martha Dunnstock, CC Mesa (SFS ’26) and Delaney Devlin (SFS ’26) respectively, took me by surprise by the energy and personality they infused into their roles. Devlin and Mesa captured attention through their performances, seamlessly exhibiting a powerful stage presence whenever on stage.

This all came together due to the tireless directing of Daniel Tomas (SFS ’26), who has been involved with Nomadic Theatre since his freshman fall. “For my senior year I felt like I wanted to give back to my community, and so I decided to direct the show.”

For anyone who did theatre in high school or has always dreamed of getting their spotlight as the next Lin-Manuel Miranda, Tomas recommends joining.

“Come to our shows! Become a member, join prod staff, audition—whatever you want just get involved in theatre. It is such a vibrant community and there is definitely a place for absolutely everyone on this campus to do theatre,” Tomas said.

If you’re not able to commit or don’t want to divulge in the cult that is theatre, I highly recommend everyone to attend at least one show during their time at Georgetown, not only to show our appreciation for the arts, but to also break up the pre-professional corporate life we often fall subject to as Hoyas.

Nomadic Theatre will be producing the play A Streetcar Named Desire next spring.

Rating: INDY

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Minhal Nazeer is a sophomore in the SFS majoring in Culture & Politics and minoring in Statistics and Journalism.