Designing a show today takes months and months of intense planning. Program coordinators will spend countless hours putting together show concepts that allow all of the different captions to contribute to telling the story. However, as a show is fielded and starts to come to life. And like any living organism it will go through numerous changes throughout the course of its life. Many times those changes may be reactions to scores, judges' critiques, fan response, and/or performer injuries.

Carolina Crown has shown a unique ability to make late season changes. In the 2015 season, following a 3rd place finish at the San Antonio Regional, Crown made their move. They rewrote a significant portion of the drill and added a large fly-over of gold fabric to bookend their opening impact.

The change lead to an immediate jump in scores and placement. They won the Atlanta Regional a week later. Then at World Championships, Crown won Prelims and Semifinals but fell just short to the Blue Devils on Finals night to finish 2nd for the season.

But this isn't just about the changes they made to their 2016 production, Relentless. Was it just a change for the competition? Or was it more? Was is a political statement? Maybe it was a reactionary move based on sentiments from the marching arts community.

Setting the stage in the first minutes of the show, Carolina Crown's performers simulate the robbery and killing of a stagecoach driver in the old west. A member of Crown's hornline dons a leather trenchcoat, weather-worn cowboy hat, steals a rifle from a colorguard member, and climbs ontop of the beautiful stage-coach prop. After a brief exchange with another guard member dressed like an old man. The robber simulates shooting the driver after begging for his life.

To find resolution at the end of the show, the old man's son is able to catch up with his father's killer. After a brief fight the son gains the upper hand on the robber and is able to secure a rifle setting up a climactic moment in the show.

What happens next is where the change comes into play.

At the show in the San Antonio, once the son character gained the upper hand at the end of the show, he shot the robber.

However, some time after that regional, the change was made so that the son's wife steps between the end of the rifle and the kneeling robber. She expresses her idea that mercy should be given to the robber. The son agrees and rather than killing the robber, he is arrested and thrown into the stage coach.

There's a couple of theories behind why the change was made. Was this planned all along from the show designers knowing they would eventually spare the robber? Could the changes be in reaction to the political landscape regarding the recent gun violence or been a response to a negative reaction from fans and parents of the simulated killings? Or was it a mix of all of these?

It does not seem to matter to the performers and fans. The performers poor every ounce of emotion into each show no matter the ending. And the fans soak up every bit of the new ending from Crown begging for more after each show.