Thursday, October 9, 2008 9:55 PM CDT
Theater hosts Halloween double bill of mysteries
CHARLESTON — Audiences will have an opportunity to “take a stab” at hidden identities, plot twists and turns and decide for themselves if it was “Colonel Mustard in the library with the candlestick,” when Charleston Community Theatre opens their fall season with two spooky one-acts, “The Actor’s Nightmare” and
“The Real Inspector Hound.”
The plays open at 7:30 p.m. on Halloween night, Oct. 31, at the Tarble Arts Center on the campus of Eastern Illinois University. Performances run Oct. 31, Nov. 1 and 2, and Nov. 6-8. The performance on Nov. 2 will be a matinee beginning at 2 p.m. All of the evening performances will begin at 7:30 p.m.
“The Actor’s Nightmare” by Christopher Durang tells the story of unfortunate George Spelvin, who wanders onto an empty stage just minutes before a show is about to begin.
The stage manager and other actors mistake him for one of their own and George finds himself center stage, trying to hold his own in productions of “Private Lives,” “Hamlet,” “Checkmate” and “A Man for All Seasons.”
George is totally confounded and does his best to hold on, trying desperately to remember any lines at all. By the time they get to “A Man for All Seasons,” he throws himself into the plot, which has unfortunate consequences for him at the close of the play.
Cast members for “The Actor’s Nightmare” include Tim Mason as George, Marie Field as the stage manager, Rachel Fisher as Sarah Siddons, Heather Carnahan as Dame Ellen Terry and Matt Piescinski as Henry Irving.
Tom Stoppard’s murder-mystery spoof, “The Real Inspector Hound,” is set in stately Muldoon Manor, where a mysterious stranger seeks refuge from the surrounding gloomy marshes. He is hiding out, but is he a murderer?
Something devilish has occurred, as evidenced by the dead body that is in plain sight from the opening curtain. Inside the Manor, a cast of shady characters attempts to sort out the mystery, finally aided by the arrival of Inspector Hound.
Watching the action from their special box seats are Birdboot and Moon, theater critics who ultimately find themselves caught up in the action of the play.
As the plot unfolds, a play within a play is revealed, and by the end, in true Agatha Christie fashion, many have fallen victim to the murderer — or murderers — and true identities are revealed.
The cast for “The Real Inspector Hound” includes Tim Mason and Michael Ve as the critics Birdboot and Moon, Carolyn Mills as Drudge, Tim Broeker as Simon Gasgoyne, Heather Carnahan as Felecity Cunninham, Rachel Fisher as Cynthia Muldoon, Craig Banyai as Major Magnus Muldoon and Matt Piescinski as Inspector Hound.
Ticket prices are $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and $6 for students. A special student ticket price of $5 will be offered for the Nov. 6 performance. Reservations are recommended and may be made by calling the Tarble Arts Center, 581-2787. Tickets will go on sale Oct. 27.
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