UNC Pauper Players and Company Carolina put on production of 'Bonnie & Clyde'

On March 28-30, Company Carolina and the UNC Pauper Players performed their spring musical collaboration, “Bonnie & Clyde” at the Center Theater Company in Carrboro.

Katie Stevens, who played Bonnie, said the story in the musical is fascinating. True to its title, the musical follows Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow, guiding the audience through their separate Texas childhoods, their initial meeting and eventually, their inevitable rise to murder-duo fame.  

“I was so excited when the show was announced," Stevens said. "I’ve known about the show for a long time. I think the music is just so catchy and the story has captivated the attention of so many people for so many years.”

Stevens is a senior communications and dramatic art double-major at UNC, and she said while preparing to play Bonnie she made playlists with music from the time period of the musical — the Great Depression — to get her more in character.

Buck Thornton, a sophomore dramatic art and journalism double-major who played Clyde, said he researched his character through the real-life Clyde Barrow’s diary notes. He said it helped him discover more of what Clyde’s ambitions were and his experience in and out of jail.

“Clyde is this, he’s a very charismatic character, but he’s also a very angry character as well," he said. "He’s really sporadic and all over the place."

Thornton said that all of the people who have worked on this production make it special, and he also thinks watching the transformation of Bonnie and Clyde throughout the show with the big climax at the end adds to the enjoyment. 

"You go through this whole story of watching these characters transition from the small 'American Dream' that they have that turns into a whole world of crime, but you still end up rooting for them,” Thornton said.

As for Stevens, she said the story of Bonnie and Clyde resonates now with the glamorization of true crime in the media. The grittiness of their story shows the reality of stories like theirs and strips away the media sensationalism, she said. “Bonnie & Clyde” shows the real consequences that come from decisions made in desperate circumstances. 

Stevens also said that musical theater is capable of communicating emotions that can be difficult to express. She loves that in the art form, you start singing and dancing when the words just aren’t enough, which resonates with the characters in “Bonnie & Clyde."

“I think that they’re just such extreme emotional heights that these people went through, and I think that the music does a really wonderful job of communicating that, especially for these characters that I think have some trouble communicating and trouble being honest,” she said.

Addisen Barbour, a sophomore environmental science major, saw the show on Saturday night. She said it was a very emotional performance and the audience was completely caught up in the story. Her favorite part of the musical was all of the harmonies featured in the songs.

Barbour did not know anything about Bonnie and Clyde coming into the show besides the fact that they were criminals, and she said she learned a lot watching it. 

“I think it was a very complicated story because there were certain times I was rooting for Bonnie and Clyde, but then Clyde would be painted more of a darker [way in] other parts,” she said. “So, it made a very, in my opinion, morally gray character.”

Stevens said that she wanted the audience to leave the performance with conflicting feelings, and that the cast could bring some sympathy and complexity to the characters and the dark reality of their lives. 

Besides that, she hoped people would have a great time, laugh and feel connected to one another.

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