By Day-jeah Williams and Ellenore Holbrook — Ever dream of solving a murder investigation or participate in a real life version of Clue? Well Drama III will give everyone a chance to do just that.
The class is producing a dinner theatre show entitled Trouble at the Talent Show. It is a murder mystery in which the audience interacts with the cast during the show to help solve who has been poisoned.
“It technically is not a murder mystery, as no one actually dies, but someone does get poisoned,” junior Nathaniel Brumbaugh said.
Brumbaugh plays one of the lead teachers who runs the talent show, along with junior Victoria Custer.
The rest of the cast represents different stereotypes from high school such as the popular girls, the burnouts, the jocks and the regular students. The cast also includes the lunch ladies and the custodial staff from this made up school.
This is Drama III’s second large production after Aladdin earlier this year, but this play is much more challenging. The students must stay in character during the entire audience interaction session to help provide clues on the poisoning.
“We have been drilling the cast on questions they may get asked from the audience to see how they hold up. So far it’s going really well and they’re trying hard,” junior and director of the show Matt Conley said.
The show is also new, as dinner will be provided to the audience before the show. National Honor Society students are going to help serve the audience while the cast talk to the audience.
Although the play is a poison mystery, it has a comical feel to it with an abundance of slapstick humor.
“The audiences’ reaction is going to be hysterical, and the audience is going to love it. Because it is the first time that my junior class is doing a show like this with the combination of food and the show, it should really be received well by the audience,” drama teacher Carla Derr said.
The show date is February 29th and ticket prices vary. A person could buy an individual ticket of $15 and be placed at a random table, or they and a few friends could buy a table of eight for the entire group. To buy a table, it is $115.
“It’s just a fun thing to do with friends instead of going to the movies or dinner like every other night. It will be a whole new experience not to mention it will be great,” Conley said.
[Updated Aug. 7, 2017: This article has been reformatted for consistency.]
