The Port Townsend High School Players have been working to grow their ranks, and their efforts have borne fruit with their fall production, which touts two sets of casts for their November stagings of the musical “Little Shop of Horrors.”

Director Chris Pierson had originally envisioned the players performing “Man of La Mancha,” but acknowledged the absence of a baritone among his available actors.

By contrast, “Little Shop of Horrors” was popular enough for the players to recruit new members, but it has a relatively small cast for a musical, so Pierson double-cast the play.

“Cast A” will perform 7 p.m. shows on Friday, Nov. 8, and the Saturdays of Nov. 9 and 16, along with a 2 p.m. show on Sunday, Nov. 17. “Cast B” will perform a 2 p.m. show on Sunday, Nov. 10, along with a 7 p.m. show on Friday, Nov. 15.

Although this year’s senior students are joined by a fresh crop of freshmen and sophomore players, even a number of the newer recruits are coming to the PTHS Players with no shortage of acting experience under their belts.

The students see their drama program as scrappy underdogs compared to other school districts in the region, since they’ve worked to maximize relatively scarce resources, with a few students playing multiple roles per show, while others are doing double duty on both Casts A and B.

Senior Zoe Pruden, who plays Audrey in Cast A, asserted that the play’s two casts boast a significant percentage of the high school’s relatively small student body, and she’s been gratified to work with so many people on this production.

Fellow senior Isabella Nunn, who plays Ronnette in Cast A and Seymour in Cast B, is excited to see how much turnout this production can generate, since she hopes to finally see a full house at one of the high school’s plays.

Although Pierson enlisted the aid of adult community member Thaddeus Straczynski to construct the “Audrey II” alien plant puppet, both he and the student players credited the students themselves with taking the initiative in coordinating the production, even if the drama behind the scenes occasionally threatens to exceed the drama onstage.

“Every show is a tragedy backstage,” Pruden said. “Props get lost, set pieces get broken, but audiences rarely seem to notice, or mind.”

“Part of this program is learning to adapt and overcome,” Pierson said. “Even outside of theater productions, these are important life skills.”

Pierson noted that students not only perform onstage, but also handle the shows’ sound, lighting, musical instruments, stage management and costume duties, even as student artistic director Linden Kempthorne praised Pierson for devoting late nights and weekends to aiding their efforts.

“He’s our scaffolding,” Pruden said.

“Little Shop of Horrors” satirizes 1960s pulp science fiction, campy B-movies and musical theater itself, with what Pierson believes will be a surprisingly incisive examination of pop culture stereotypes.