Did you know there’s a new play coming up?
Better yet, for the first time it has a double cast.
Under the direction of Carey McCray, the Bear River Theater and Drama Department plan to put on one of their biggest plays yet. This play is called “Clue” based on the board game and 1985 movie.
This play isn’t just like any other, in fact it’s quite the twister.
“Clue is a mystery and it's a comedy thriller. A who-done-it, play,” McCray said. “There's a lot of archetypal characters and like a mistaken identity of who, you know, who’s thinking that one person is the murderer, and in fact, it could be multiple.”
This show has a double cast which means that there are two different people playing the same character, but on different show nights.
“There’s only so many parts in the show and because this class is full of so many talented people I wanted everyone to have an opportunity to shine and so we’ve double cast it,” said McCray.
This kind of cast is new for the drama students but they’re excited to try it. Drama student and sophomore, Eze Brost got a main role as the butler, Wadsworth.
“I'm very excited about the role I got. I get to do a lot of really fun things,” said Brost.
Junior Jackson Telliano will play Wadsworth in the second cast.
“I'm excited I got the main character. I find it fun that I have, that we're both doing a British accent and I have to learn a British accent, so I find that fun,” said Telliano.
Not only do these two students have to learn one accent, but many for this role.
“So we have to learn, we have to do a little, little snippets of French accents, Southern accents, and various, I think it's just those two for accents,” Telliano said “And then we have to do different voices for the other ones. And then, of course, there's the ending where we get to do an American accent.”
It’s not only nailing accents that these students have to learn, but the character’s personality and body language really adds to portraying a character.
“Well, he's like a serious yet kind of funny guy,” Brost said. “He is the main character, like we said. You say funny lines, but we don't really know they're funny. They're just kind of funny.”.
Another character in Clue is one of the guests, Mrs. Peacock played by Keira Gwin and Taylor Shimamoto. “She's kind of old,” Gwin said. “She's a wife of a certain political person, and she's just very crazy. In a way she's a mess. She's hysterical, and she's always screaming and fainting, which is pretty fun to play around with, but it's also kind of hard to make her relatable. Because she's kind of annoying.”.
A lot of the play’s background has to do with the era it took place in.
“Because it's the 1950s, there's a lot with McCarthyism and the Red Scare — a big fear of communism in America,” Shimamoto said. “So, that's kind of a big role, and there's a lot of lying and blackmailing going on, because McCarthyism is, by definition, the practice of lying, blackmailing, and cheating people.”
Funnily enough, even though this play is meant to have a double cast, there is one student who is tasked to play the same role for both sides of the cast. Drama student and junior Jordan Davidson plays Mr. Green.
“Mr. Queen is an apprehensive guy who is a homosexual, timid, very strict, and yes, that's a part of his character,” said Davidson.
Though this seems like a big challenge, Davidson is confident he’s got this in the bag.
“It's not easy per se, but it's not hard either as long as you get the dynamics down,” said Davidson.
Not all parts of this show is brought to life by just the actors, but the people backstage creating and moving the set. Artistic Director Nya Lyman is in charge of making this show come to life on stage.
“My job is working on all of the artistic elements for the show,” she said. “So, how the walls are gonna look, what color paint we're using, what props we're using, how those props look, those types of things. Just all the visual elements on stage, really.”
This play also has a unique set. “The moving of the set is in every scene, in the middle of scenes, and it's just, it's a very complex show, in that sense, and I'm very excited for it,” said Lyman.
Though there are so many challenges, the real challenge comes with making all aspects of the show feel real. “It's just a fun way of watching a show that's not just going to show you one version. It's going to show you a bunch of different parts to the story, which is fun,” said McCray.
