Seattle University’s theater club, Inigo Productions, put a spooky twist on the end of the school year with their production of the 2010 Broadway musical “The Addams Family.” Performed May 8 through 10 in Pigott Auditorium, the production displayed acting, singing and dancing talents from a variety of Seattle U students.

“The Addams Family” follows the eponymous family unit, who adore all things macabre and embrace death and despair with open arms. When the youngest daughter in the family, 18-year-old Wednesday Addams, falls in love with a boy from an ordinary Ohio family, everyone from Wednesday’s resplendent mother, Morticia, to her bald and bizarre Uncle Fester to is shocked. Over the course of a dinner meant to merge the two families and the song “Full Disclosure,” where family members reveal their darkest secrets, both sides lament their perceived oddities before ultimately realizing they have far more in common than not.

Inigo was created nearly a decade ago after students grew frustrated that Seattle U’s theater department was only putting on plays and not musicals. Typically, the club has an annual production of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” in the fall and performs another musical in the spring.

A lot of thought goes into choosing each spring musical. The club operates on a limited budget and needs to ensure that they can afford the rights to the musical that they perform. Inigo is also a no-cuts club, which means they must gauge interest and choose a musical that can involve everyone who auditions. 

“We need something that’s pretty low budget, something that we can do without any kind of huge set or a lot of props or costumes,” Inigo President Priya Bhananker, a third-year education major, said. “We also need something that is not too complex in the vocals, dancing, things like that.”

Due to the limited budget, most actors’ costumes were sourced second-hand or from other people’s closets. Props were largely made at the Billodue Makerspace on campus or were donated. 

Bhananker, who portrayed Morticia Addams, the matriarch of the family, channeled her own mother when performing.

“It’s funny because I feel like Morticia and I are pretty different. When I’m [playing Morticia] I kind of feel like my mom, because there’s scenes where she plays the exasperated, angry mother who’s just like, ‘No one in this family can do anything right!’” Bhananker said. “But I have a lot of fun playing her because she’s very moody and she doesn’t pull any punches.”

The director for this production was Fourth-year Film major Navy Williams. After playing Orin Scrivello, the sadistic dentist in last year’s Inigo musical, “Little Shop of Horrors,” she decided that she wanted to direct the following year’s musical. 

One of the most difficult aspects of being a new director for Williams was learning how to choreograph. One thing she wanted to prioritize when developing the choreography was to ensure it was entertaining, yet simple and fun enough for the castmates with no musical experience. 

“I am not a choreographer. I’m not a dancer… A lot of inspiration came from looking at videos of other productions or seeing how they do different things and how those read, and trying to translate that into a group,” Williams said. 

Williams’ favorite dance to choreograph was the tango at the end of the musical. The three-minute instrumental seemed like a daunting task at first, but ended up becoming a cast and audience favorite. The tango involved nearly every member of the cast and featured a beautiful dance sequence of Morticia and Gomez Addams reconciling after facing marital issues earlier in the musical. The song ended with the couple performing an elaborate dance move to loud cheers from the audience.

The unseen heroes of the production were the tech crew, who oversaw everything from prop and costume changes to the control of lighting and sound. A member of the tech crew, Second-year English major Maude Miles, said that their favorite aspect of being a part of the tech crew was the community that came along with it.

“When you’re in front of the stage, you just see the musical and you don’t see how much effort everyone’s put into it and all of the connections we’ve made. That’s one of my favorite things about it,” Miles said. 

Miles encourages other students to participate in Inigo, because it allows people to explore their passions and possibly become involved in something they would’ve never thought about doing previously.

Whether you find yourself tempted by the glamour of the actor or the tenacity of the technician, keep a close eye on Inigo’s Instagram for upcoming shows and opportunities to get involved.