While a number of students from Knoxville High School are sharpening their roles for the upcoming performance of “Little Shop of Horrors,” construction work is finishing up on one crucial character at the center of it all.

The musical revolves around the mysterious alien plant Audrey II, and a father-son team has been working on its design and operation.

Troy Errthum has designed various versions of Audrey II, which will get progressively larger throughout the performance; his son Tanner will be the puppeteer, and will use everything from a simple hand puppet to a giant-size version. Ethan Rowland has been cast as the voice of Audrey II.

Troy Ertrhum tells KNIA/KRLS News he did a lot of checking into what others have done as he designed his versions of the puppet.

“I would say it’s pretty close to a lot of productions; I did a lot of research, and…there’s different approaches, and we kind of took the Venus Flytrap kind of approach,” Erthumm says.

“He has an upper (and) lower jaw, and he can eat things. And when he eats the people, they disappear through the operator’s legs and they end up backstage.” Errthum says.

Having his own son as the puppeteer made construction easy; Errthum says he often called Tanner into the garage to take measurements and make sure he could operate it properly.

“Little Shop of Horrors” will play at the Knoxville Performing Arts Center on Friday, March 1st and Saturday, March 2nd at 7:00 p.m. with a matinee on Sunday, March 3rd at 2:00 p.m.