Students take charge in drama: Student production, improvisational dinner give individual students a chance to shine

For the second time this year, drama students will be acting in a Murder Mystery Dinner to fundraise for the program. This event will feature even more antics, designed to include the audience in the plot and confound even the shrewdest of detectives.

In the show, characters interact with the audience as they attend a television masquerade gala turned whodunit mystery.

“It may or may not be one of the characters. The audience has the talk of solving the murder by watching, eating and gathering various clues,” said senior Deborah Burger, who plays optometrist Mag Niffie. “Anything’s possible. At the end of the meal the audience will cast a vote on who they think it is.”

The evening will include jokes and lots of improvisation on the part of the actors.

“It really is a good laugh, very witty, and all above board. It’s nice to see a battle royale of the wits,” said senior Mac Hyde, who plays Sherlock Tracy.

The show also has more subtle jokes mixed in, such as how every character’s name is a pun. Memorable names include Dolly Dee Signer, Sherlock Tracy, Bamerial Lacrosse, Jackey T. Pressen and Yuna Verse, Burger said.

The cast looks forward to the dinner, not only as a fundraiser for the drama department but as a bonding event as well.

“I love the show. Our cast has amazing chemistry, [and] I feel like everyone fits their characters really well,” Burger said. “It sort of feels like a family. Like most shows, it has the same tight knit feeling of belonging.”

The cast list includes seniors Marshall Westall, Hyde, Burger and Valarie Peterson, juniors Jason Seo and Pavi Sadras and freshman Simi Srivastava, Andrew York and Natalie Miller.

Unlike the last murder mystery, this one is set in modern times. It has lots of amazing plot twists and drama, Burger said.

The show is sure to get a great turnout, and the cast hopes to raise a lot of funds for the department.

“People should come see to support the drama department and its students, and be able to enjoy a wonderful masquerade,” Hyde said.

The dinner is on April 13 in the Cathie Thermond Drama Center. For tickets, contact director and senior Maddie Emery.

Also upcoming is “No Exit,” a student production directed by senior Josh Harris and stage managed by senior Natalie Berg. In this 1944 French play by Jean-Paul Sartre, three people are forced to spend eternity in a small room with each other—their own special hell.

The cast features Westall as Garcin, an army deserter, junior Laura Hannibal as Estelle, a high-society woman, sophomore Annelise Nussbacher as Inez, a postal clerk and freshman Nastasya Kutuyev as the Valet, who brings each character into the room.

Watch for more information about this student production performed at the end of May.