What started out as a great idea soon turned into reality for four college students.
Alumni Luke McFathrich, an artistic director and head writer for the Basket Cases Theatre Company, graduated from Mississippi State University in August 2018, receiving his bachelor’s degrees in marketing and theatre. At MSU, McFathrich came up with the idea to create a theatre company with his friends.
“I approached them with the idea of creating stuff together, and all I had was a name,” McFathrich said. “We sat down and created the aesthetic and mission statement. From there, the four of us created what we wanted to do as a company together. We were all interested in children’s and educational theatre.”
McFathrich decided to name their company The Basket Cases because the term describes him and his friends perfectly.
“It just kind of hit me,” McFathrich said. “It is famous for kids our age, most famous from ‘The Breakfast Club.’ It describes people who are kind of out there and a little removed, but it gets more and more accurate the later we work into the night. We just get crazier and crazier as the night goes on.”
Alongside McFathrich from the very beginning is junior Emma Denson. Emma, also an artistic director and writer for the Basket Cases Theatre Company, is a communication major with an emphasis in theatre.
Emma said she remembers how McFathrich approached her with his idea for The Basket Cases.
“So it all started with nothing,” Emma said. “He drew what he imagined as a logo on a napkin. It went from that to a list of shows we want to do.”
It took no time at all before Emma, McFathrich, alumni Austin Howeth and MSU senior Alyssa Parrish began planning what would be the start of their company.
According to McFathrich, the group started preparing for their first show in September of 2017.
“The first production we did was ‘The Elves and the Shoemaker,’ modern play with musical adaptions of the Grimm’s fairytale,” McFathrich said. “I wrote the adaptations, so what we did differently was we made the shoemaker a woman and set it in modern times. All of the references and comedy were very accessible to families and children.”
While McFathrich wrote the script, Emma helped develop the scenes of their production, and the show was premiered in December 2017 during finals week.
“We started rehearsals in November with five actors, and put the show up finals week,” McFathrich said. “We opened the night of the last day of finals, so we were rehearsing during finals week. We will never do that again. We were over capacitated every performance.”
According to Emma, there were many parents thanking them for their Christmas adaptation of the “The Elves and the Shoemaker.”
Since the company was just starting off, Emma and McFathrich funded the production completely out of pocket.
“The majority of it was done the final month before the show,” Emma said. “Jamie Taylor, our costumer, pitched in with some money as well. It was completely out of pocket with one donation for our first show.”
Since their first show, The Basket Cases have produced their own rendition of “Call of the Wild” and “The Ugly Duckling.” As they have produced more shows, the company has found their style.
Upon starting his freshman year at MSU, Eli Denson, Emma’s brother and a music education major, began his involvement with The Basket Cases as the musical director for the company’s next show “Frost.” This will be Eli’s first production with The Basket Cases.
“Once they (Emma and McFathrich) realized I was coming to State, Emma approached me in May,” Eli said. “I was big time in on that because this was going to be a great opportunity for me to see which way I want to go with music and everything.”
For “Frost,” Eli will write all of the music. While Emma, Eli and Luke had very conflicting schedules over the summer, the three resorted to creativity in order to get their scripts and music written.
“I worked a little on it over the summer, but I didn’t have a lot of time because I was going on mission trips,” Eli said. “Emma was in Sarasota, Florida, and Luke (McFathrich) was in Starkville. We had to put the script on Google Docs and come up with creative ways to communicate.”
For the pieces The Basket Cases produce, the company has a minimalist style.
“Our style is more abstract and minimalist,” Emma said. “The design of all of Basket Cases work relies on minimalism and imagination, as opposed to the giant spectacle.”
Because of the minimalist perspective of The Basket Cases, there will only be a pianist and violinist during “Frost.” This will be the first production The Basket Cases has done with have live music.
“Luke and Emma came to me and said they would like for the different characters to have different themes,” Eli said. “It is a great opportunity for both of us. Being in the arts, there are different forms of arts, and when we do something like this, we are meshing the visual arts with the audible arts.”
The Denson siblings are both very passionate about The Basket Cases. Furthermore, the two are seen as a dynamic duo as they work together for the next production.  
According to Emma, working with her brother has brought the two closer, and it makes her proud to see her brother embracing his creative side as opposed to the more logical side.
The Densons and McFathrich are all working together alongside their fellow peers trying to produce their spin on Jack Frost, “Frost,” set to open at the end of November.