Mystery Dinner murders any boredom in the audience
On Feb. 25 and Feb. 26, the NPHS Theater Department enchanted students, parents and alumni with this year’s production of Mystery Dinner. The play, “Dewitched’’, accompanied by a variety of acts, took place in the cafeteria and was an interactive performance with the audience while they ate dinner.
The story was based on the 60s TV show “Bewitched,” which ran for eight seasons. The play used characters from “Bewitched” to display a story that included the Hogwarts universe. The audience witnessed the death of Aunt Clara, and after an investigation and clues from the other characters, they submitted a guess of who they believed the murderer to be.
Casey O’Brien, senior, played Samantha Stephens, the main character of “Bewitched.” O’Brien has been in the drama club since freshman year, and has been involved in Mystery Dinner all of her four years of high school. “I was in it last year, and I was a waiter and variety act my freshman and sophomore years. So when I knew that we were doing auditions for drama club, I signed up,” O’Brien said.
Isaac Kalama, freshman, played French Inspector Clouseau from “The Pink Panther” movie series. To prepare his French accent, Kalama studied Peter Sellars, the original actor of Inspector Clouseau. “I figured out the accent and just practiced that like every day, it was fun,” Kalama said.
The actors also had to rely on their improvisation skills to interact with the audience. “When I was talking to the audience and interacting with them, that was really fun, that was my favorite part,” Kalama said.
During dinner breaks, different students took to the stage to perform Variety Acts. These short shows included singing and even balloon making. Alex Carter, senior, performed the songs “Sin Triangle” and “Mr. Brightside.” They have been performing at mystery dinner since their freshman year. “It’s been tradition for me to be a variety act every single year,” Carter said.
Although the track cut out midway through their song, Carter continued to perform to the beat of the audience clapping their hands. “In the moment, I was so scared, I was like, aaaah! But after I started singing and everyone started clapping with me, I just felt so loved and it was so much fun,” Carter said.
The two performance nights were filled with food, a variety of shows, and a mystery ready for solving! “ I think it went really well. It was a lot of fun,” O’Brien said. “This is a super tight knit cast so we got to know each other really really well. I just love everyone here.”
