Clio Clio and Crew, Inc Present Rehearsal for Murder

Rehearsal for Murder - Clio Cast and Crew

By: Marshall Summers

Celebrate Spooky Season with Clio Cast and Crew’s season opener, a production of Rehearsal for Murder.

The show opens with playwright Alex Denninson (Nikolas Watford-Conrad) alone on the stage in an empty theater. He is interrupted by Ernestine (Rachel Foley), the janitor. We also meet Sally Bean (Johanna Kurnik), Alex’s somewhat ditzy and nervous assistant. 

Alex narrates, taking the audience back to the events of the previous year. The police (Norman R. Ban Etten, Rachel Foley) rule Monica’s death a suicide. Under the guise of reading his new play, Alex brings the cast and crew together on the one year anniversary of Monica’s death. After reading through some scenes, the director, Lloyd Andrews (Carter Temsey) and producer, Bella Lamb (Becky Wilhite) along with actors Karen Daniels (Allison Maynard), David Matthews (Matthew Micoff), and Leo Gibbs (Harper Court) become frustrated and demand to know what is really going on. Alex reveals his true intentions with the help of a detective, Lt. McElroy (Hunter Cook). In the end, the true murder is revealed. 

The set is rather simple at first. The director (Judy Harper) made use of curtains to conceal Monica’s apartment, leaving most of the set black and simply furnished. The simplicity of the set allows the audience to focus more on the story being told instead of an elaborate backdrop. It also puts more emphasis on the actors’ work and allows their performances to shine. 

Actors use the whole theater for the duration of the show. The main action takes place on the stage, however, actors enter and exit from the house doors at the back and even venture into the audience at times. This makes for an interesting and smart use of a small space. There is no audience participation for those who are not enthusiastic about that. Actors merely utilize the aisles.

This show uses the play within a play trope. Furniture is carried on and off the set by members of the cast and a “stage hand” character, Loretta (Emma Gagnon) is present to add to the realness of the production. 

The costumes (Judy Harper, Dennis Swedorski)  in this production are very glamorous. From the leading lady’s sequin purple gown to the producer’s opening night ensemble, these characters are dressed to the nines. There seems to be an underlying purple motif. Whether purposeful or not, it ties the characters together as they are tied together by the death of Monica.

Harper Court stands out in their portrayal of Leo Gibbs. They add comic relief and play into the smarmy used car salesman persona. Nikolas Watford-Conrad stands out in the lead role as Alex Dennison, playing the grieving lover, potential murderer, and determined detective with ease and keeps the audience guessing. Karen Fenech gives a wonderful performance as she portrays a nervous and vulnerable, yet determined and confident leading lady in Monica Welles. High school senior Hunter Cook shines in his role as Lt. McElroy in his debut role with Clio Cast and Crew.

There is a content warning for this show. The theater did a good job of alerting the audience to the fact there is a gun featured in the play for dramatic purposes. It was made clear that the audience is never in danger. However, the prop gun is “fired” multiple times and a loud popping sound is heard. The prop gun is pointed at or in the direction of actors in the performance, but never pointed at audience members. The audience and actors are perfectly safe, but the loud noise may startle some. 

For those sensitive to loud noises or who startle easily, be aware there are multiple instances in this production where chairs are used to make noise. Sometimes it was unclear though if the clattering was intentional or unintentional as the noise covered lines being said onstage. Just something to be aware of for those sensitive to loud or sudden noises.

With it being opening night, there was some stiffness among some of the cast members’ performances. Perhaps it could be attributed to this being the first run on stage as their character. As performances go on, they will become more relaxed in their roles.

There were some noticeable line flubs throughout the performance with some self correcting and some instances of actors stepping on each other’s lines. At one point, one actor went to say something and was abruptly cut off by another actor. It was not clear if that was supposed to be part of the show or if it was merely an accident. Some of the actors were too quiet, making it hard to hear their lines, especially if they were toward the back of the stage.

Another negative were some minor background distractions. Some background chatter that was probably meant for backstage ears could be heard a few times. Perhaps more distracting was one of the entrances onto the set was open to the backstage area. A curtain was hung to prevent the audience from seeing into that area, however the curtain was a little too short and actor movement behind the curtain was noticeable a few times throughout the production.

Without giving anything away, the ending will have you guessing up until the last minute. You will think you have it all figured out and then another character will do a scene with compelling evidence toward their guilt. There are a lot of twists and turns to keep everyone guessing. 

Bottom line, go see this show. It is a good little whodunit production that will keep you guessing to the end.  Even super sleuths will have trouble deciding if Alex killed his beloved Monica or if it was one of the other members of the production…or someone else entirely. 

This show runs October 17-19 and  24-26. Friday and Saturday shows are at 7:30 and Sunday matinee shows are at 2:30. Go to www.cliocastandcrew.com to get tickets or call the box office at 810-687-2588.