Theatre MSU’S performance of “The Hobbit” follows the adventures of eccentric hobbit Bilbo Baggins through Middle Earth as he encounters many fantastical situations and characters.
Theatre MSU will perform the play at 7 p.m. Sept. 27 and 2 p.m. Sept. 30 in the McComas Theatre. Tickets are $12 for adults, and $7 for children and students.
Cody Stockstill, the scenic and lighting designer, said the play takes the audience on a fun-filled and heartfelt journey with Bilbo. 
“It’s just such a fun story,” Stockstill said. ”It’s got a lot of heart in it, too, especially this version of it. It sort of concentrates on the heart of Bilbo.”
Many people are familiar with “The Hobbit” book and movies, and Tim Matheney, director of this rendition of “The Hobbit,” said this play is perfect for Tolkien fans.
“Doing (‘The Hobbit’) in a theater setting, in a live performance, will give those that love the films and love the book a unique, new experience with the text,” Matheney said.
However, Stockstill said performing “The Hobbit” live presents several challenges the movies did not have to face, such as set variety and time constraints.
The set construction crew had to figure out how to portray the myriad of different scenes involved in the storyline from just one base set structure, as well as how to portray certain fantastical characters such as Gollum and Smaug.
For this, the production team decided to work with Bunraku, a Japanese puppetry style which involves several on-stage actors controlling a large puppet. Both Matheney and Stockstill said they are very excited to try out these new puppetry techniques to debut to the audience, a technique both have not used before.
Another challenge unique to this play was the very short time frame the group had to prepare for the production. Due to changes in the school schedule, the students only had four weeks to memorize all their lines, get into their characters and build the set, a feat Matheney called “incredible.”
Jacob Baker, an MSU senior from Cullman, Alabama, playing the lead Bilbo Baggins, said the play is funny, exciting, entertaining and also very heartfelt.
“It’s just a really fun time with all these characters, and there are definitely a lot of goofy, comedic parts, and hopefully, the audience will get a lot of good laughs out of it,” Baker said. “There are also some really emotional parts where really sad things happen, which will hopefully connect with the audience as well.”
Baker said his favorite part is that he gets to have fun and joke with the audience, and is especially looking forward to the children’s reactions.
“One of my favorite parts about this character, Bilbo, specifically in this version of the play, is that he’s the only character that gets to interact with the audience some. So, I have a lot of asides where I get to make jokes to the audience,” Baker said.
Stockstill said all the students involved in the play, both on the stage and behind it, have done a fantastic job.
“They really brought their ‘A’ game to this one,” Stockstill said. “They’re really working hard, making sure that we can tell the best story, and the audience has the best story that we can provide them.”
Matheney encourages all students to come out and take a break from their daily routine to relax and enjoy the story.
“It’s a chance to, as a college student, come in and be a kid for a while, let your mind go from tests, and just enjoy an adventure for about an hour,” Matheney said.