Caitie Hays is having a role reversal this summer.
For four years, Hays has directed plays at Fremont High School.
Now, Hays will take the stage as an actress in a new musical theater production at Fremont Opera House.
Hays plays the character, Cathy Hyatt, in the two-person show, “The Last Five Years.”
Performances start at 7 p.m., Aug. 4-5, and 2 p.m. Aug. 6 at Fremont Opera House, 541 N. Broad St. Tickets are $20 each and may be purchased at fremontoperahouse.org or the Wise Old Owl store at 516 N. Main St., in downtown Fremont.
“The Last Five Years” tells the story of a man and a woman and their relationship – from the time they get together to their marriage and then when they leave each other.
“This is a very popular show with musical theater lovers,” Hays said. “The music is fantastic.”
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Will Hastreiter, who plays Hyatt’s husband, Jamie Wellerstein, is a fan of the music, too.
“The music is brilliant,” Hastreiter said. “There are bunches of catchy tunes that get that get stuck in your head.”
One unique aspect of the show is that the woman tells the story — starting at the end of the relationship and then goes back to the beginning.
By contrast, the man tells their story from the beginning of the relationship to the end.
The only time their stories intersect is in the middle — when they get engaged and get married.
“It is funny,” Hays said. “It is romantic, but it’s also sad and painful. You get to see the whole span of the relationship.”
First staged in 2001 in Chicago, the show later was made into a movie first released in 2014.
Kyle Thomas is the pianist for the opera house show. Thomas is a former assistant director of arts at MU and now is director of marketing for Opera Omaha.
In 2021, Thomas and Hays’ dad, Dan, starred in the two-person, fast-paced comedy, “Murder for Two” at the opera house. Dan Hays is MU’s director of theater.
“I think the nice thing about this show (“The Last Five Years”) is that it’s become really an iconic piece of musical theater,” Thomas said. “Jason Robert Brown, the composer, is one of the best musical theater artists — if not composers — of our time and this was the show that really put him on the map. It’s one of the most beautiful pieces of musical theater that I know.”
Joey Hartshorn, a Fremont native, is directing “The Last Five Years.” Hartshorn serves on the board of SNAP! Productions in Omaha and has acted and directed throughout that city.
Caitie Hays, who’s acted in the United States and overseas, has directed numerous FHS productions, most recently the spring play, “Heroes and Villains: A Cabaret.”
Hastreiter graduated from Midland University with a bachelor’s degree and is working on a master’s degree as a graduate assistant in theater. In February, Hastreiter played Eddie Birdlace in MU’s production of the musical “Dogfight.” He played the iconic Bing Crosby role of Bob Wallace in MU’s production of the musical “White Christmas” in 2021.
Hastreiter appreciates this latest musical.
“I think people will be able to relate to a story of love in one way or another,” he said.
Hays is glad for the opportunity to stage the new show.
“It’s a show that I’ve been wanting to do for a while,” Hays said. “Will and I started talking and we came to Lee Meyer (FOH executive director) with the idea to do it and the opera house decided to support us.”
For Hays, it’s a chance to be on stage.
“I have been in the director’s chair for the last four years and I’m entering my fifth year at Fremont High,” Hays said. “Doing this show has been a real treat — to get back on stage and be the actor this time, instead of the director.”
Hays commends her co-star.
“It’s an absolute delight to be on stage with Will,” Hays said. “He’s incredibly talented and I’m so humbled and honored.”
She notes the work involved in the show, which includes lots of memorization.
“It’s a 90-minute show being held up by two people,” she said.
She must take good care of her voice.
“Every song we sing is like the biggest number of a Broadway show,” Hays said. “We each sing eight songs and each song is a show-stopper. You have to be very vocally healthy and ready to go to do this show.”
That means being careful with her voice as she teaches swimming lessons in Elkhorn and teaches songs and dances to kids going to camp at The Rose Theater for children in Omaha. In June, Hays and two other adults took 20 FHS students to New York City, where they saw Broadway shows.
Hays added that the new opera house show has adult language and brief adult topics.
“There’s nothing inappropriate, but this is probably a PG-13 show,” she said.
She believes attendees will enjoy the show.
“I think the people of Fremont love the arts,” Hays said. “My whole goal at the high school is to bring quality productions to the Fremont community and I’m really privileged that — this time — I can bring my own talents to the Fremont community in a different way.”
