Student actors portray Heath Ledger’s death

Heath Ledger is dead on stage.

A man walks into a room and turns on a projector, reflecting images of Heath’s life as he lies motionless. But this death does not look as good as the last one.

“Hold.”

Ledger stands up and walks back to his cue as senior and director Maggie Smith calls for a restart. Senior Harry Watermeier turns around to indicate his approval.

“Good run,” he says.

Watermeier, the playwright of “The Last Days of Heath Ledger,” saw his work come to fruition Friday and Saturday at the John Waldron Arts Center.

The play, based on a short story by writer Lisa Taddeo, imagines the four days preceding the late actor’s death and the people he might have interacted with.

Watermeier, a self-professed fan of Ledger, felt inspired to write the piece after reading the story and gained approval from Taddeo.

Yet the play, as Taddeo’s piece, was initially protested and criticized by Ledger’s fans.

“People seemed to be really upset, and people claiming to be Heath Ledger’s friends and saying ‘How dare I do this,’” Watermeier said. “But I think — and this is why I bring up the protests, and the people not really liking the idea of doing a fictional account of his last days — that the play is very up front.”

Smith said the show’s intention is not to be taken as purely factual. Rather, her goal was to create Ledger as a character, rather than the tabloid legend he became.

“I don’t think it’s particularly offensive, but at the same time, we’re not romanticizing or glorifying the character of Heath Ledger,” Smith said. “He’s kind of this earthy, kind of grungy guy, and that’s how we’re depicting him in our fiction,” Smith said. “We’re not trying to skew it in any way that would seem completely shocking.”

Junior Russell Stout, who portrayed Ledger in the play, said he researched the part by looking at the actor’s work and press. He said he was able to craft a character as more of an homage then a representation.

“A lot of people had no idea what exactly was going on at that point in time. They just have certain assumptions of what they thought, and it’s been very interesting to explore it,” Stout said. “It’s not an impersonation, and I’m not trying to be him. I just want to highlight the certain points in his life.”

The play not only served as a tribute to the actors and production team but as a chance for the group to show the integrity and value of undergraduate theater work.

Smith said she hopes to see the play’s possible success as an example of the worth of undergraduate work.

“There are so few undergraduate playwriting classes that this is such an exciting opportunity,” she said. “Just recognizing that undergraduate work can be produced and can be full scale and can become very exciting. That’s big news on its own. We don’t need to be under someone’s wing all the time.”

Watermeier has been in contact with universities in Australia, Ledger’s native country, about producing the show.

But the playwright said he’s just happy to see his work finally realized and in the process, honor one of his inspirations.

“This is huge,” he said. “If it finishes here, I’ll be very happy with it.”