Theatre Professor Michael Flowers and alumna Katie Holmes ’05 haven’t worked together on a show since they were a teacher-student team at Birmingham-Southern College. Now, they’re teaming up on this summer’s production of “Matilda the Musical.”

The Red Mountain Theatre Company (RMTC) production premieres July 12 and will run through August 4 at the Dorothy Jemison Day Theatre at the Alabama School of Fine Arts. Both Flowers and Holmes serve as directors: Flowers as the overall director and Holmes, RMTC music supervisor and conservatory manager, as the music director.

Though the Roald Dahl book-to-stage adaptation was new to Flowers, he’s worked with RMTC many times before. Last summer, he played Maurice in RMTC’s production of “Beauty and the Beast” (a role he also played in their 2008 show) has directed other productions for the company, including “Fiddler on the Roof,” “Cinderella,” and “Peter Pan.”

“Musicals are my particular interest,” says Flowers, who teaches musical theatre courses at BSC.

Holmes developed a specific love for musical theatre, too. She grew up playing classical piano, first taking lessons at BSC’s Conservatory of Fine and Performing Arts when she was eight. In high school, she fell in love with theatre and ended up studying it as a BSC student. These two backgrounds soon merged as she began directing musicals.

“It was a little scary stepping into the unknown, but it felt like a natural progression,” Holmes says of the first time she directed a show herself.

She was a junior when she directed BSC’s production of “The Spitfire Grill” alongside Flowers, a theatre faculty member at BSC since 1984. After graduation, Holmes stayed involved with the theatre department by playing in the orchestra pit and co-teaching a musical theatre class with Flowers.

For both Flowers and Holmes, working with the kids who make up the cast of “Matilda” has been a dream. They agree that the cast and crew, including choreographer Robin Lewis, make up quite the team of creatives.

“Many of the children are professionals, and they’re extremely excited to be in the show,” Flowers says. “We’re in a rehearsal room with a huge amount of talent.”

As the manager for the RMTC conservatory, Holmes gets to teach children’s classes as part of what she calls her “unicorn of a job.” RMTC students take lessons in acting, voice, and dance, and the company guarantees them performance roles.

“I’m amazed by what they can do,” Holmes says of the children starring in “Matilda.” “They are young independent artists, and we’re helping them channel that creativity into their work.”

Flowers and Holmes have enjoyed “Matilda” in particular because of the strength that such young characters get to embody. When faced with challenges, Matilda and her friends power through with compassion, courage, and wit.

Flowers says one of his favorite elements of the musical is that “even the smallest of us has the potential to overcome obstacles and make the world a better place.”

The show also features a variety of special effects to recreate the magic in the story. They’re excited for the audience to experience these. Holmes herself hasn’t even seen many of the effects in action yet.

“They’ll be a little magic to me, too,” she says.