The TJC Theatre Department will debut its first play of the semester, “Anatomy of Gray,” at 7:30 p.m. on Oct. 2-5 at the Jean Brown Theatre. 

An additional 2:30 p.m. showing will be held on Oct. 5. If a student has an ID with them they get in free. 

“‘Anatomy of Gray’ is the story of a young girl, June Muldoon, who loses her father and she now must live with her mother alone in the 1800s in Gray, Indiana,” said David Crawford, professor of theatre at TJC. “It’s basically June’s story of growing up in Gray, Indiana. There is also a doctor that she has a relationship with that is the basis of the entire story.” 

As far as the importance of this play, Crawford said, “it’s a very strong story. It enlightens us to the world of the late 1800s and how people living outside the cities at the time had a much simpler life.” 

Crawford also makes the comparison of “how they deal with things day-to-day like we do now, such as sickness, death and relationships, except they didn’t have phones.” 

The play will feature a modern technique of production, Crawford said. “It is exploring our sense of make believe and how the audience uses its creativity to build on to the sets, because we basically start out with saying: ‘this is a room,’ but it’s up to the audience to fill in all of the details of the scene. We want you to imagine what it really is like.” 

Student Ramey McGraw said “the department has done an amazing job with how they want the play done.” McGraw talked about the new students added to the department. “It’s amazing seeing fresh new faces coming in and showing what they got.” 

The cast of actors includes nine people, and the running crew has five people.