Northwest Indiana loves its connection to carnivorous plants.
One plant appetite claim-to-fame for years was Costantine Dillon, our former Indiana Dunes National Park Superintendent from 2007 until his 2013 retirement.
Before his park practices, Dillon was a film screenwriter early in his career and penned the screenplay for the 1978 classic “bad” great cult movie “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes,” which today rates at 27 percent grade from Rotten Tomatoes film review website. Dillon was also involved with writing credits for the four follow-up sequels and can be seen onscreen in quick cameo roles in all five films in the series.
Rooted in bogs and woods in the “backyards” of Dillon’s former office at the Indiana Dunes National Park are three varieties of real carnivorous plants, all insect-devouring favorites when pointed out to students on school field trips. The “pitcher plant” and the “bladderwort” prefer to “drown” their six- and eight-legged victims before digesting them, while the “sundew” tangles its prey in sticky tendrils and absorbs them for the nutrients that are lacking in their surrounding soil-based growing area.
(Sorry, to see a Venus flytrap, you have to head as far south as North Carolina and South Carolina in more warm and temperate climates.)
One more carnivorous plant of a fictional sort, named “Audrey II,” is also a favorite on stages around Northwest Indiana.
It is the puppet plant star of the musical “Little Shop of Horrors,” which the Towle Theater, 5205 Hohman Ave. in downtown Hammond, is presenting for a two-weekend run Oct. 24 to Nov. 1, directed by Dion Stover with music direction by John Phillips. The show run is being sponsored by Hammond Urban Enterprise Association.
“Little Shop of Horrors” remains a perennial favorite with audiences and centers on down-and-out florist shop worker Seymour, who adopts a strange and alluring blood-craving plant with the power to transform his green-thumbed owner Seymour into an overnight sensation due to his unusual botanical discovery.
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Infatuated with his bubbly, blonde and beautiful co-worker Audrey, Seymour allows his newfound fame and fortune to seduce him. He names the talking and singing plant Audrey II, after his secret love, and caters to the hungry and rapidly growing plant by providing the special care it requires.
The stage version of this story was inspired by the original blockbuster 1960 Roger Corman film, with the addition of the memorable score by the songwriting team of Howard Ashman and Alan Menken. Later in his career, Menken rose to new heights of fame with Disney’s hit animated films such as “The Little Mermaid,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “Aladdin.”
Two decades after the original 1960 black and white movie, the characters debuted on stage as an off-Broadway musical in 1982.
A popular cult following and a hit 1986 musical film remake by director Frank Oz starred a who’s who cast, including Rick Moranis, Steve Martin, John Candy, Ellen Greene, Christopher Guest and Bill Murray, which finally inspired producers to give the work its New York Broadway bow in 2003.
Making their Towle debuts for this month’s run are TJ Bird of Decatur, Indiana; Brian Centers of Westmont, Illinois; Gabriel Levi, Marie Molina and Taylor Morris, all of Chicago; Darrow Richmond Jr. of Glenwood, Illinois; and Matthew Williams of Berea, Kentucky, starring as Seymour Krelborn. Returning to the Towle are Amanda Donohoe of Chicago and Sean Rhead of Tinley Park.
The botanical star of the show, of course, is the series of four “ever-growing-in-size” puppets who portray Audrey II throughout the performance.
The Towle Theater hosted an online fundraiser via social media, with the campaign starting Aug. 4 through Aug. 16, and raised $2,105 to purchase an existing series of plant puppets from Lutheran High School in Indianapolis. The high school had performed “Little Shop of Horrors” earlier this year as their July 2025 summer show.
“We had to make some design changes to the largest puppet, which was built to be mounted as a backpack on the hidden puppeteer,” said Emily Nelson, executive director of Towle Theater.
“It was just way too heavy, and our puppeteer couldn’t keep control.”
Tickets are $30 in advance and $35 at the door for the Towle Theater run, and reservations must be paid for in advance and are non-refundable and non-exchangeable. Group rates are available. There is no late seating, so guests must arrive no later than 15 minutes before curtain. Those arriving after curtain will not be seated until intermission. Free parking is available in front of the building on Hohman Avenue, as well as street parking along Fayette Street and a gravel lot located on Sibley.
For more information, call 219-937-8780 or visit www.towletheater.org.
Philip Potempa is a journalist, published author and radio show host on WJOB 1230 AM. He can be reached at [email protected].