Center Players to act out classic board game Clue in weekend performances
Who did it, how and where? Is it Miss Scarlet in the Library with the lead pipe? Or, could it be Mr. Green in the Conservatory with the wrench?
Find out while enjoying the madcap performances in “Clue: On Stage” at Madison Square Center for the Arts this week.
“It is just really crazy pandemonium at its most hilarious,” Ken Hackman, the show’s director, said.
There are four opportunities Thursday through Sunday to see your favorite board game spring to life by The Center Players Community Theatre, and Thursday’s show is deliciously special. For one performance only, the audience is invited – just like the characters in the play – to a very unusual dinner party.
Thursday’s one-time dinner theater costs $35 and includes a three-course meal, catered by Bless This Food, and a board game come to life.
“We though ‘Clue’ just screams dinner theater,” said Megan Mayhan, president of the Center Players. This is something we wanted to offer. A fun murder mystery is the perfect set up for dinner theater.”
For Thursday’s performance, doors open at 6:30 p.m. with dinner served at 7. The curtain rises at 7:30, with dessert and coffee served at intermission.
Tickets for the dinner performance, and all other shows, are available at www.thecenterplayers.org. The other shows are set for 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Tickets for shows Friday through Sunday are $15 for adults and $12 for students. A cash bar will be available at Thursday, Friday and Saturday shows.
“This show brings in hilarious references and nostalgic memories throughout. You definitely won’t want to miss this classic whodunit that will keep you on the edge of seat,” said Samuel Smylie who portrays Professor Plum.
No matter the weather outside 2401 Main Street where the show goes on, it’s a dark and stormy night inside when guests arrive at Boddy Manor. No one knows why they have been invited but each one received a letter asking them to attend. A murder occurs, then another and another. The remaining guests try to figure it all out while hilarity and absurdity ensue.
Hackman said the entire cast makes the show come to life in their own campy styles. “I’m excited about the cast from top to bottom.”
“Working with this cast has been so encouraging. Each actor and actress in this cast is so uniquely talented, yet we have all found ample ways to continue to learn from one another while having fun,” Smylie said.
For Hackman, a veteran director of about 80 shows, the staging of this play was a difficult assignment since the characters roam throughout the seven rooms of Boddy Manor on one stage. “There are so many moving parts with the different rooms.”
Connie Black, who takes the stage as Mrs. White, said she is excited to be part of the show. “It’s a super talented cast. I think the play is adorable.”
Pheobe Whitley, appearing in her first Center Players production as Yvette the French maid, said the cast gets along great. I’m looking forward to being in the show. All of us want to surprise the audience.”
Also starring in the show are Vincent Jordan as the butler Wadsworth, Roxie Hood as Miss Scarlet, Mandy Hackman as Mrs. Peacock, Wayne Thomas as Colonel Mustard, Wyatt Wilson as Mr. Green, Bradley Davis as Mr. Boddy, Courtney Haindel as the cook/ensemble woman, Steven Carter as cop/ensemble man, Nathan Dunaway as chief of police/ensemble man and Sims Jones as singing telegram girl.
All these characters come together Thursday through Sunday for the ultimate game of Clue.