A well-known botanist in Skid Row, New York, said the best way to keep a plant healthy is to give it fresh soil, sing to it, and feed it one whole human whenever it says “Feed me!”

The Regional Theatre of the Palouse opens up its spring season with “Little Shop of Horrors,” a horror comedy play. The story tells of a young man living in the nastiest part of New York City, discovering a strange plant that comes to life. Unfortunately, it also comes with quite the appetite for blood.

Along with the terror of a man-eating plant, there’s also comedy and some romance. The romantic aspect comes from the two main characters, Seymour Krelborn and Audrey. A bit of an odd couple, considering Seymour’s nerdy persona clashing a bit with Audrey’s whorish attire.

“I confidently say she’s very different from me, but in a way I think that makes it easier to relate to her,” said Olivia Calza, who plays Audrey.

Despite Audrey’s attire, Calza said her character has zero self-esteem and believes she doesn’t deserve love. She has so much self-loathing that she dates sadistic dentist Orin Scrivello. Audrey’s high heels, heavy makeup, and gargantuan nails gave Calza some work to do to become accustomed to moving around the stage.

Underneath the makeup and somewhat revealing clothing, Audrey is a sweet and naïve girl with small dreams, Calza said. She’s a character many people can relate to, from her small dreams to her experience with boyfriends.

“Everyone’s been there, where they’ve been with losers and then they get the keeper,” Calza said.

Audrey’s keeper turns out to be Seymour, played by Hollis Higginson, a meek and self-conscious nerd who finds comfort in strange plants and is mistreated by his boss Mr. Mushnik, played by Randy Emerson.

Higginson said he found himself very similar and very different to Seymour. To transform into his character onstage, he needed to put on the look of a geeky person through the way he moves and how he holds himself.

“To make it believable, change more than just voice,” Higginson said. “It’s hard to figure those out and adapt to somebody who’s almost totally different.”

Both Calza and Higginson had to do a little work to become people so opposite of their personalities. But it was Anthony Luetkenhaus who had to pull some extra weight, literally, to become something opposite of his species.

Many may remember the charismatic, smooth-singing Audrey 2 who was voiced by Levi Stubbs in the 1986 film. Although the giant mouth full of sharp teeth is a little off-putting, it’s kind of hard to not tap toes when the plant sings “Feed Me.”

“I love being a giant, man-eating, alien space plant,” Luetkenhaus said. “The character of the plant is so evil and manipulative, it’s very fun to play at something so opposite of me.”

Higginson said the hardest part was working with a giant puppet as a co-star. It takes a little imagination to see a living plant rather than a collection of fabric and paint, but he’s been happy with his plant co-actor.

Not only did Luetkenhaus play Audrey 2, he is also the scenic and lighting designer. To handle both crew and acting responsibilities was like juggling flaming chainsaws, he said. It required him to work on the technical aspects during the day and rehearse in the evenings, using puppets made from scratch.

“Lots of productions rent these puppets, but the main one is so big we couldn’t get it into the theater,” Emerson said.

The Audrey 2 puppet stands about 6 to 7 feet in length, complete with moving jaws and enough room to swallow its victims, such as Mr. Mushnik, Emerson said.

“I was excited to be this guy and … getting chomped … was one of the reasons,” he said.

“Little Shop of Horrors” will show at RTOP theatre in downtown Pullman. Show dates are Feb. 19-22 and 25-28. The show starts at 7:30 p.m. and there are matinees at 1:30 p.m. Feb. 21-22 and 28. Tickets cost $20 for adults and $12 for children 12 and younger.