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The Grand View theater department is teaming up with the Des Moines Area Community College theater for the production of “Ghost Bike.” Ghost Bike was written by Laura Jacqmin and is loosely based on the Greek mythology of Orpheus and Eurydice. It is a story about Ora and Eddie who are best friends and ride their bikes all over the city of Chicago. The story travels deep within the city.

Kristin Larson is an associate professor and department chair of theater arts and speech at Grand View. Professor Larson explained why she decided to pair up with another college for this production.

“We paired up together with DMACC because we wanted to do a large cast play,” Larson said. “Carl Lindberg, the professor at DMACC, and I thought it would be exciting to use both of our spaces for an engaging contemporary work of theater.”

Larson said that they also want to submit their co-production for consideration to travel to the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival Region V in January. To do this, they must be able to adapt their set to different theaters and production spaces, which is difficult to do.

The first two weeks of rehearsal were at DMACC, and they are finishing their rehearsals here at GV.

“The rehearsals have been great, and the students are creating some wonderful characters,” Larson said. “There is a lot going on in this play with bikes and moving pieces of scenery, etc. Alex Snodgrass, the designer and technical director, is creating a wonderful world for the play on stage, and we have a great costume designer who is working with a student designer from DMACC.”

Lauren Bailey is the lead in the production and plays the character Ora.

“She is the definition of badass,” Bailey said.

She went on to describe Ora as “determined, loyal and more caring than she’d ever admit. Ora is someone we can all identify with in some capacity.”

Bailey said she has enjoyed pairing up with DMACC for the production.

“I have loved pairing up with DMACC Ankeny for this production,” Bailey said. “Theater is such a communal process, and this co-production has allowed us to experience that in a way that we wouldn’t normally be able to.”

Bailey has worked previously with Carl Lindberg, the DMACC director, who was an adjunct professor at GV last year in the theater department. She said that she was aware of how Lindberg ran his rehearsals, which has helped her so far. She also mentioned how fun it has been to work alongside DMACC students.

“We are such a small department here at Grand View, so we all know each other pretty well and have worked together in the past,” Bailey said. “This show not only brought in more interest from our campus but allowed us the opportunity to work with a group we don’t know.”

Professor Larson said that audiences should expect an “imaginative, theatrically engaging and unique” show. The show opened on October 25 in the Viking Theatre on campus and will open at DMACC’s theater on October 31 at 7:30. The DMACC shows will go from October 31 to November 4 and are completely free. For more information regarding the play, check out the Grand View University Viking Theatre Facebook page.