On Nov 20 through the 24, the Department of Theater and Dance will be putting on a new musical by Adam Gwon and Sarah Hammond in the Albert Taylor Theater. “String” is a story about The Three Fates in Greek mythology, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. Director Lori Bales calls it a “modern myth.” They manage to greatly anger Zeus, and they are sent to earth as punishment. They are still required to do their jobs while on earth, which are spinning, measuring, and cutting the threads of life. The eldest Fate meets a mortal, falls in love, and chaos ensues. “I think it’s a really beautiful story. I think many different people can take a lot of different things away from this musical. It has great points on life and mortality. And the music, of course, is fantastic,” senior Sean Doherty, who plays Mickey, said.

The songs are quite catchy and will definitely get you humming along. In 2010, Millikin had a workshop of this musical and decided to take it on this year. This musical is unique, because Millikin is the collegiate premiere of this show. “It’s a new musical and we get to create the characters from scratch and premiere it,” senior Madison Kauffman, a member of the ensemble and understudy of Lachesis said. Senior ensemble member Jake Morrissy agreed. “When you’re in the ensemble, the character is your own. It’s never been done before, and no one else has that, which is cool.”

They began rehearsal in the Old Gym in September and rehearsed there up until the end of October. They currently work from 7:00 to 10:00pm, Monday through Saturday in the Albert Taylor Theater. “The cast is really incredible to work with. We’re a really close-knit ensemble cast. We get to see each other a lot,” junior Lyla Rivard-Hoster, who plays Lachesis said. The writers of the show came in to work with the cast for a week, and it was a great learning experience for both. “It was really cool to see how a show can change. I think a lot of people think a play or musical is just locked in once it’s written, but it’s not,” explained Doherty.

Kauffman can still remember her audition back in the beginning of the semester. “Auditions are always nerve-wrecking. I think it went really well, though. You have to tell yourself to just breathe and believe you’re enough.” That was true for Rivard-Hoster as well. “I had never been called back for a musical before. I was nervous in my audition, but once I clicked into it, I got it. It was a fun audition.”

It has certainly come a long way since its beginning. “I think that String was a good pick for Millikin because it talks about living your life and looking at the bigger picture, and not focusing on the little things,” Morrissy conveyed. “At Millikin, we can get caught on not getting the grade we wanted or being sick and unable to make it to class, and we shouldn’t dwell on that. Life can go either super great or super horrible, but it will get better. We focus on such little things that aren’t even a percent of our lives. It teaches us not to dwell on something. When it’s done, it’s done, and life goes on, and I think that’s something that Millikin needs to know, and String connects to Millikin in that way.”