The fall play this year that the Dover Thespians are doing is an original murder mystery play written by the director himself. According to director Tom Morris ‘The Grande Demise,’is set in the early 1930s, the story takes place during an open house for a vacant Vaudeville theater. Realtor Michael McShifty (Noah Beachy, Sophomore) and his assistant Autumn Drivemore (Allisynn Hamsher, Junior) are representing playboy Phillip Le Grande (Max Cooley, Freshman) who has run his family’s beloved theatre into the ground. As the action unfolds it becomes evident that everyone has a reason for wanting to see Phillip dead.Who ends up killing Phillip Le Grande? Finding out is the job of the first U.S. female detective Molly Goodman (Madeline Luellen, Senior). Mr. Morris explains that “With the audience’s help, she will interrogate all of the suspects, and then the audience will vote to decide exactly who the murderer is!”
When I asked Mr. Morris what inspired him to write the play, he said, “I had acted in a number of improvisational murder mysteries for a couple of years, and that is what inspired me to write a few murder mystery scripts. I have been doing theater since my 9th grade year in high school.”
The tickets are $5.00 each, and the seating is General Admission on a come first serve. This show will run on the nights of November 20-22 (Thursday-Saturday), the curtain goes up at 7:00.
I was able to ask a few of the cast members some questions about the fall play and get some responses. From all the responses I had gotten from the cast the play is going very well and moving forward. Two quotes which the cast brought up as their favorite was the “Do you want to try some of my homemade wine?” From Priscilla Pinpoint, (Maddie Minnis, Freshman), and “Why don’t we have a meeting right now, led by my Cane?” as Rod Stems (Owen Reineke, Sophomore) starts beating Phillip Le Grande (Max Cooley, Freshman) with his cane. Laney Gottshall had said, “My favorite line from the play is when Susie Stepful (Cassidy McKee, Sophomore) screams when she sees the dead body”.
After hearing from the cast, I think things are going really well with practices and the cast is having fun with the production. I don’t know about you, but I am going to be getting my tickets and my seat as soon as the doors open on November 20th. With the audience participation and a whole murder mystery unfolding due to voting from the people watching, this sounds like it will be a very good show put on by the Dover Thespians. Come on and see this fun and exciting fall play to see how the murder mystery unfolds.
