Students, faculty and staff were thrilled and chilled by Southeastern’s newest production of “Down The Road,” directed by Chad Winters, instructor of acting and directing. Written by Lee Blessing in 1989, “Down the Road” was performed at Southeastern at 7:30 p.m. from Feb. 16-19 inside the Vonnie Borden theatre.

This psychological drama told the story of two married journalists as they become more and more wrapped up in the story of a serial killer who reiterates his murderous life to them. Gerrin Narcisse played serial killer William Reach, and Benjamin Norman and Hallie Green played the husband-and-wife duo of Dan and Iris Henniman.

The story took place in both a maximum-security prison and a motel where the Hennimans stayed in order to interview Reach, who hired them to create a written account of his crimes, specifically the murders of 19 women. However, the journalist team found his crimes so horrendous that they began to question the morality in publishing them for consumers to read in a novel.

“I always like to do psychological dramas,” said Winters in regards to his play selection. “The idea with these killers [is that] we write books about them and in essence we make them famous.”

The actors playing the roles took on the task of immersing themselves into the characters to prepare for an audience, not only night after night in practice, but also in performances.

“I think they handled it very well,” said Winters. “We did a lot of research. They did research on journalism ethics. We made it funny too. We didn’t make it too heavy for ourselves.”

According to Winters, he enjoyed the challenge of illustrating the passing of time between scenes. Winters also commented that he thought the set and lighting was done very sleek, seeing as the two settings began to blend together by the end of the play with characters stepping invisibly into each other’s lives and places of dwelling.

Students in attendance at the show commented on the play and how it affected them after watching.

“It was very suspenseful, but I was confused a bit about the ending,” said freshman elementary education major Lauren Roberts in regards to the way the serial killer roamed around the hotel room right in front of the couple, unbeknownst to them.

“The play dealt with a very contemporary and relevant topic,” said senior English major Paul Shinn. “I appreciated the subject matter and what the play was trying to say.”

The final show for the spring theatre season at Southeastern will be the “Tragedy of Julius Caesar,” written by William Shakespeare, on April 13-16.