Borrowing its inspiration from popular supernatural works, Point Park University will show its take on a supernatural love story when it premieres its newest play, “Dark of the Moon,” on Friday, April 13 at the Pittsburgh Playhouse. Unlike recent blockbusters, however, the creatures in this play do not sparkle or have fangs. Instead, “Dark of the Moon” uses the characters of witches versus humans to show themes of intolerance and prejudice.Set in rural Appalachia during the Great Depression, the story follows two star-crossed lovers: John, who is a witch, and Barbara Allen, a human who belongs to an extremist religious group. “John is in love with Barbara Allen,” said Eric Hoffmann, a senior musical theater major who plays the part of the Conjure Man, in an interview in the Lawrence Hall lobby on Thursday.   “He goes to the Conjure Man and Conjure Woman, and he cuts a deal with the Conjure Woman, that if they can get married and be together for a year without either of them being unfaithful, then he will be able to stay human.  But if either of them fails, he’ll have to stay a witch.”  Director Jack Allison first saw “Dark of the Moon” performed while he was in college, and it stuck with him. “They did a production of it professionally at the arena stage in Washington, D.C.,” he said in an interview in his office April 4. “I remember being fascinated by the whole idea of the play.  The possibilities of what the play meant really influenced me.”Because the play was written in the 1930s, Allison and the production team “spent a lot of work making it accessible to a modern audience,” he said.  Although it is an older play, it still has very relevant themes that apply to today’s society.  “It’s about people who don’t think for themselves, and who will do whatever they’re told,” said senior musical theater major and Assistant Director Ryan Witt in an interview in Allison’s office April 4. “It asks the question, ‘what can happen when you blindly follow something without questioning it yourself?’”With such intense themes in the show, Allison expects some controversy. “It poses the question of what’s morally correct and what’s not.  I expect some people to be upset, but that’s what the nature of the play is,” Allison said. “It will succeed in doing one thing, eliciting an emotional response.”In order to accurately portray the supernatural characters, Allison researched voodoo and hoodoo of the 19th century. He also included lots of music in the production. According to Allison, there are 10 people who play guitar in the show. Other instruments used include the accordion and banjo. “Roots of American folk and religious music of the time compete with each other, literally and figuratively,” Allison said. Senior musical theater major Cami Glauser plays Barbara Allen, the love-struck woman conflicted between her love for John and her religious community. “Personally for me, I’m really privileged to be able to play this part because there are so many different elements and sides to Barbara Allen,” Glauser said in an interview in the Lawrence Hall lobby on Thursday. “She has to work through everyone.  The town is very much against the marriage. It’s very hard for her because she has to decide whether she believes in John, or whether she believes in the town. She just has to follow her heart.”Hoffmann described playing the Conjure Man as “very fun.”“I get to be outside of myself and he’s described as very old, very aged,” he said. “I took a lot of inspiration, the Conjure Woman and I, from voodoo and folklore and rituals from that.  So that was a lot of fun, bringing that into this place and letting that sort of color the direction we wanted to go.”Sophomore musical theater major Andrea Weinzierl plays a Dark Witch, who is part of a group of witches that scheme to keep John away from Barbara. “There are witches who are tormenting him throughout the entire show, saying, ‘Why do you want to be a human?’” Weinzierl said in an interview in the Lawrence Hall lobby on April 2. “They are very possessive [of] John, and they actually make a bet with the Conjure Man and they destroy Barbara and John’s relationship. The character is not human, which is kind of interesting to approach from an acting standpoint.”According to Weinzierl, the six women portraying the dark witches had to learn to move as a unit.“The six of us are a group, so we have to move the same. It’s a team thing, onstage and offstage,” Weinzerl said. “We have to make sure that we all look the same, that we are moving the same way.” As Glauser explained, the Dark Witches are not the only members of the show that must work as a unit.“It’s so much of a collaborative work, with everyone’s effort,” Glauser said.  “There are over 65 people involved in the production. That includes the cast, crew and the production team. So you have all of these different elements coming together, but they’re all coming together as one.”“Dark of the Moon” opens at the Pittsburgh Playhouse on Friday, April 13, and runs through Sunday, April 22.