Ridgewood drama club to present unique murder mystery
WEST LAFAYETTE – The Ridgewood drama club will perform a unique twist on a classic murder mystery as they present, “Rehearsal for Murder” at the high school on Jan. 14 and 15 at 7 p.m.
When actress Monica Welles, played by Ashlynn Carnes is found dead the night of her disastrous Broadway debut, the police determine the cause of death as suicide. However, Welles’ fiancé, playwright Alex Dennison, played by Conner Wheeler, believes that Welles was murdered. A year after her death, Dennison goes to the very theatre where Welles had her Broadway debut where he gathers the same cast and crew that performed that fateful night. As the actors read scenes from what they believe is a new play that eerily corresponds with events from that night, Dennison is secretly trying to find his fiancé’s murderer.
“The playwright has each of the actors act out in their scene as if they could be the murderer,” said director Jill Collins. “I think the audience will really enjoy the scene when the pressure is on and the group he’s brought in is protesting and want to leave.”
Flashbacks of the night Welles is murdered are interspersed throughout the play, which is one of the challenges the cast and crew face for this production. Another challenge facing the students is that this play marks the third production they have performed in the first semester with “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” in November and “It’s a Wonderful Life” last month.
“I don’t want to give too much away about the play,” said Collins. “But it has a surprise ending.”
Tickets are $5 for adults and $3 for students and are available at the door. The next production will be “White Christmas” and will be April 1, 2, and 3.
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Category: Education
