A couple of weeks ago, Arts & Sciences sophomore Jake McCoy tied up Arts & Sciences senior Dan Tracy in rope on the Lied Center’s Studio Theatre stage. After securing Tracy, McCoy shut off the lights and blacked out the doors so the room was in complete darkness. He then left Tracy alone overnight tied up in knots.

This was not some sort of hazing crime that Public Safety clearly missed.

This was in preparation for Tracy’s title role in the Performing Arts Department’s production of the fall musical, “Floyd Collins.”

McCoy was fulfilling the director’s instructions as stage manager.

The musical tells the story of Floyd Collins, a cave explorer in Kentucky who became a news sensation when he was found trapped in between a crevice of an Appalachian cave.

The story became a national obsession, with newspapers sending reporters to Kentucky to keep the nation updated on his situation. Common people wanting to be part of the media circus also gathered at Sand Cave, causing general chaos.

Collins was isolated in the cave for more than two weeks in 1925. In 1996, the story was transformed into an Off-Broadway musical written by Adam Guettel, based off a book by Tina Landau.

Last year, Musical Theatre director Stephen Sheftz decided to bring the musical to Creighton.

“I thought the music was extremely compelling,” Sheftz said. “When I spoke to some colleagues about doing this, it’s not done because some of the vocal requirements are really challenging.”

Sheftz pointed to the fact that Guettel was the grandson of Richard Rodgers, of Rodgers and Hammerstein fame.

Sheftz also was enthused with sharing the Floyd Collins story on campus.

“Once the characters are introduced, you don’t have them interacting with Floyd a whole bunch because they can’t get down to him,” he said.

“It’s basically how his absence changes all their relationships. It gives you perspective both on the family and friends and what’s happening to Floyd.”

The play experiments with several unorthodox techniques not usually seen in a musical.

“A lot of this is what happens in [Floyd’s] head. So the only way you can do that is through soliloquy,” Sheftz said.

“Floyd Collins” is an opportunity to hear music past your typical showtune musical.

“From a musicologic point of view, it’s contemporary music. And Guettel uses a number of compositional devices like bitonality and [pointalism],” Sheftz said.

In Creighton’s production, Arts & Sciences sophomore Ariel Talacko plays Nellie Collins, Floyd’s younger sister.

“Nellie loves Floyd more than anything in the world, and is a source of hope throughout the show,” Talacko said.

The musical is the first production of the school year at the Lied Center. The lead actors and actresses came two weeks before classes started to begin rehearsals. The cast has had daily three-hour rehearsals since the second round of auditions were completed. The singing is accompanied by a 10-piece orchestra of Creighton students.

Talacko believes the extra time together has paid off.

“The cast gets along extremely well,” Talacko said. “We have such a wonderful, diverse group, and every night we feed off of each other’s energy, which I think will really show through in our performance.”

Floyd Collins is playing in the Lied Studio Theatre through Sunday. Tickets are $5 for Creighton students and faculty. The production is entered in the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival.