ROCHELLE — The Vince Carney Community Theatre will present ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ at the Lincoln Arts Center at 108 S. Main St. in Rochelle on March 28-30 and April 4-5. The March 30 show will take place at 2 p.m. and all other shows will start at 7 p.m. Tickets are on sale online at http://www.vcctrochelle.org/ 

‘The Shawshank Redemption’ is written by Stephen King and was ​adapted for stage by Dave Johns and Owen O'Neill. VCCT will be bringing King’s award-winning novel to the stage. ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ was brought to the silver screen in 1994 with a movie starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman. The story set at a prison is one of friendship, persistence and redemption. The VCCT production is recommended for mature audiences due to strong language and adult themes. The Shawshank Redemption is presented by arrangement with Dramatist Play Service.

“It’s the story of a group of prisoners,” Director Michael Hynek said. “We chose this show because it’s something I wanted to direct and something I wanted to see on the stage. I’m not quite sure what people can expect. This isn’t a typical VCCT show. And this is a stage show, not the novela or the movie adaptation of it. Our cast has been working so hard on it. We’ll have to see how it comes off on the stage.”

The assistant director of the production will be Amy Frank. The cast includes Terry Camplain as Andy Dufresne, Norm Read as Red, Ken Manning as Warden Stammas, Hynek as Hadley, JR Peach as Bogs, Doug Kroupa as Brooksie, Steve Frank as Entwistle, Camryn Whitaker as Rooster, Jason Crowell as Rico, Zach Crabtree as Tommy, and Kim Ekes as Dawkins.

Hynek will be marking his directorial debut with the show. The cast of 11 is a mixture of theater veterans and members that will perform on a stage for the first time. 

“I’ve enjoyed that because you can see the veteran cast members providing guidance to the new people,” Hynek said. ”Doing a stage show that’s a well-known movie can be tough, because you know people will be expecting the movie. But it just can’t be that. It will be more like the novela. We’ve done shows that were movies before. It’s just a different approach.”

Amy Frank said a strong drama isn’t a typical production for VCCT, as the community theater group does a lot of comedies and family-friendly shows. She also serves as the VCCT board president. 

“This is a welcomed challenge for us and our cast and we’re excited to have something different,” Amy Frank said. “What’s tough about acting in dramas is you can’t rely on the crowd’s laughter. You’re on your own up there.”

Amy Frank said she’s excited to see how crowds react to ‘The Shawshank Redemption’. 

“It’s an interesting show because of the conflict people may feel about the characters,” Frank said. “It’s a story where you may like the characters but they’re not good people. It’s set in prison, where people have done bad things to get to. You have to come to terms with that when you watch it.”