After months of rehearsals and hard work, director senior Landon Campbell will sit back and experience the play “Tigers Be Still” as an audience member on April 7.

“Tigers Be Still” is a comedic drama that follows a woman trying to overcome depression when her family is falling apart. While her sister Grace is trying to get over a breakup and her mom is just trying to get out of bed, protagonist Sherry hopes to finally find a career as an art therapist.

After reading numerous plays, Campbell fell in love with “Tigers Be Still” because of its complexity and its mixture of comedic aspects with deeper thematic issues such as depression and loneliness.

¨I literally stumbled upon ‘Tigers Be Still’ when I was coming out of the dressing room for the Bird Calling Contest last year,” Campbell said, chuckling. “I flipped through it and immediately knew this was the one.”

The play will be performed on April 7 and will feature sophomore Ellie Coleman, senior Yuval Wolf, sophomore Jonathan Dinetz and senior Eliza Lucas. Senior Maeve Sullivan will work backstage to find costumes for the characters and apply their makeup.

“The final decision for the cast was a difficult one,” Campbell said. “I had to hold an unexpected fourth callback for the actors, but now I know these decisions were the right ones.”

Coleman will be playing Sherry, the protagonist in “Tigers Be Still” who is hoping to get her life back on track.

“My favorite thing about Sherry is how hard she works to keep herself together for her family when she can barely hold herself up,” Coleman said. “I’m excited to push my acting skills and to get to know the cast better.”

Freshman Chelsea Fox will be assistant directing “Tigers Be Still” to gain more experience in directing. After watching her perform in the Youth Musical Theater Company production of “Jesus Christ Superstar,” Campbell decided to ask Fox to help him with tasks that would make the show run smoother.

“I wanted Chelsea’s help because of her enthusiasm and interest in the theater,” Campbell said. “I am thankful to have someone helping with such a huge task.”

Fox is looking forward to helping with the play because she wants to see firsthand the process of how plays morph from their beginning stages to a final product ready for an audience.

“It’s unlike any other play I’ve read before,” Fox said.

Sophomore Maya Guzdar was also interested in Tigers Be Still as a learning experience, but for auditioning rather than for directing. Because the opportunities to act in plays are mainly reserved for upperclassmen, Guzdar was excited for the chance to audition for a production because of her love of the theater.

“I wanted to have some practice in auditioning so that I can become more comfortable doing it,” Guzdar said. “I love the feeling of losing yourself in a character. Nothing is right and nothing is wrong in theater as long as you’re committing 100 percent.”

Campbell decided to direct a play last year because he wanted to have more power in making his vision come to life. After seeing how much theater can touch the audience, whether in laughter or tears, Campbell knew he wanted to create a play that had both effects on the audience.

“I’m excited to spend time working on the play behind the scenes,” Campbell said. “I want to watch this play hatch from an egg to a beautiful bird.”