‘Rusty’ a loyal friend

Mt. Hood freshman McKenzie Hatton enjoys her synergistic relationship with her fellow actors on and off the set of “Footloose.”

“I like the parts of being with all the girls. We all have really good chemistry, and so we’re always cracking up, and making fun of each other, and it’s just so much fun,” said Hatton, who plays the part of “Rusty,” who is lead character Ariel’s best friend in the musical production.

Hatton describes Rusty’s friendship with Ariel as a typical “BFF.”

“She’s a good influence, as in, ­I think she’s more innocent than Ariel in a way, but she’s also kind of that ‘BFF’ who will make those fun comments and stuff,” she said.

Rusty also has a crush on a character named Willard. “Having Ren (the lead male character, a newcomer in town) come has finally opened her and Willard up to actually being in a relationship,” said Hatton.

Rusty’s attraction for Willard is a complicated one, illustrated by a solo number sung by Hatton, “Let’s Hear it for the Boy.”

“It is basically describing all the things that are wrong about him, and that these are the reasons I shouldn’t like him, but I still do,” said Hatton.

She said the character of Rusty is comparable to that of “Belle” from “Beauty and the Beast.”

“She looks into people, and sees how they are inside,” said Hatton. “I kinda connect with that, because I feel like I try and see inside the person, and see how they really are inside, and not just how they appear to be.”

Hatton didn’t specifically try out for the part, but said that “Rusty was the part that I could see myself playing.”

Besides “Footloose,” Hatton has appeared in numerous productions, including “Beauty and the Beast,” “Aladdin,” “Cinderella,” “Anne of Green Gables” and “Willy Wonka” at other institutions, she said.

Hatton enjoys the “Footloose” musical, and said she likes how “it’s a different take” and that “there’s no real villain in the show – just the parents who are misunderstanding the children or the children misunderstanding the parents, and how, at the beginning they’re so different from each other, and then during the middle, they butt heads so much, and then through the end they finally level out and understand each other.”

A cosmetology major, Hatton enjoys participating in theater and developing friendships with other actors. “Theater people in general are fun friends. They don’t have a lot of boundaries because they have to cross a lot of boundaries when they’re in theater, and so they’re just kind of more fun,” she said.

The theater experience is an activity that has an unexplainable pull on Hatton.

“It just… is kind of hard to explain how you get addicted to it, but once you’re in it, and you had a good experience in it, you just love it and keep coming back,” she said.