In the production Miss Witherspoon, Miami University students painted a picture of the afterlife that is both dramatic and humorous.

Put on by Alpha Psi Omega and USITT (United States Institute of Theatre Technology), Miss Witherspoon was an enchanting story of a woman who had no desire to return to middle-earth.

Entirely student run, Miss Witherspoon was performed Oct. 29 through Nov. 1 in Studio 88, located in the basement of the Center for Performing Arts.

Revolving around Miss Witherspoon's refusal to reincarnate, the show was brought home by Miami junior Jessica Winters, who embodied the "miserable old woman next door."

Winters, a theatre major, played different ages in the film, a prospect that proved particularly challenging for the actress.

"It's hard because I'm playing different ages," Winters said. "When I have to be 5, I have to be 5."

In addition to the "brown tweed aura" given off by Miss Witherspoon, supporting cast members, all of whom shaped Witherspoon's many lives, also drove the show.

Grant M. Johnson, a junior theatre major who played Witherspoon's father, dog and dog owner in the show, explained the cast has been rehearsing since the middle of September.

"The show is funny, and dark sometimes," Johnson said. "The audience should expect to be entertained."

Coming back to earth as an infant, a dog and a rebellious teen, Miss Witherspoon led a series of heartwrenching yet humorous lives. The funniest and most dramatic section of the show came when Witherspoon was born to a drug-addicted mother played by Erin Lann.

In what one can only be described as a "Britney" upbringing, Witherspoon's most dramatic life highlighted the show's ability to tackle important issues like drugs and child abuse while maintaining a light-hearted nature that shed humor on the death process.

However, the actors did not solely carry the production. Jim Watson was the sound designer and soundboard operator for Miss Witherspoon, and according to the Miami senior, the real challenge was carrying out the director's vision.

"I took the director's vision for the show and was given the challenge of coming up with sound effects for a particular moment of time," Watson said.

Watson had more than 20 years of theater experience, and as he went on to explain, Miss Witherspoon was a funny story filled with odd but enlightening characters.

"The show is about reinvention after death," Watson said. "You can see a little bit yourself in Miss Witherspoon."

The interconnectedness of Witherspoon's lives brought the show's message home, and as Winters said, that message reached far beyond Miss Witherspoon's stubbornness.

"There is a definitely an explicit message that we need to co-exist," Winters said. "No one species, culture, race or ethnicity is better than another."