Editor’s note: Annabelle Miller, director of Lab of Lunacy, is also a staff writer for the Courier.
CHS Theater will perform Lab of Lunacy for its annual Murder Mystery Night on May 23rd and 24th. Murder mystery is more intimate and smaller than the regular CHS Theater production, with a mystery at the heart of each year’s play and a focus on audience interaction to help solve the mystery. The Frankenstein-inspired comedy tells the story of Dr. Frank Frankfurt, chief scientist of Frankfurt Labs, and his desire to test a new medicine called “Age Away” and eventually achieve immortality.
This is the first CHS theater play directed by sophomore Annabelle Miller, who has been in theater and ComedySportz for the last two years.
“I’m really happy with how [the play] is turning out. I think it’s going to be a great show,” said Miller. “Being a director is a very rewarding experience.”
Lab of Lunacy is split into three acts, with dinner between acts one and two and dessert between acts two and three. All food is provided by the CHS culinary arts class. During dessert, each table will be able to converse with the actors for clues.
“All the characters who are still alive at that point are roaming the audience while everyone’s eating dessert, and if you pay them up to $5, they’ll give you different clues,” said junior Josh Kleinman, who’s playing Dr. Frankfurt. “In character, they give you clues and they can’t break, and it’s awesome.”
According to Kleinman, who has been in all three murder mystery plays since his freshman year and is the oldest cast member of Lab of Lunacy, this year’s play is different from years past in various ways while still maintaining everything that makes murder mystery plays great.
“The set this time is the best and most interesting-looking set we’ve had for a murder mystery for a long time. I think it’s one of the funniest we’ve done, though murder mysteries always end up being funny,” said Kleiman. “I think the characters all really bounce off each other. The dialogue is fun and enticing, and the story is fun.”
The majority of the cast and crew of Lab of Lunacy are underclassmen, with a few cast members acting for the first time. History and involvement with murder mystery plays like Kleinman’s is paramount in creating a good product, and that history and experience are most apparent in producer Lilly Riggs. Riggs, a senior and the longest tenured member of the crew, was part of the costume crew for the last two murder mysteries and was the writer and assistant director for last year’s. While producing is a new and important world for Riggs, her focus is on assisting the cast and crew.
“The biggest thing was learning how to use my wisdom and help the younger people of the crew and cast while still staying in my role and not stepping on anyone’s toes,” said Riggs. “That’s a really big thing.”
Lab of Lunacy premieres at the PAEC tomorrow at 7:00 P.M. and will run until Saturday.
