Months of preparation led to the three shows of murder and mayhem: months of line memorization, blocking, madness, laughter, and community. Every theater production has much more to it than meets the eye, and “Clue” was no exception.
But before the show’s production process even kicked off, Theater Instructor and Performing Arts Department Chair Dana Caldwell spent her summer contemplating the perfect show for her incoming Play Production class and settled on “Clue.”
“I loved the excitement around it. “Clue” is such an iconic film, game, and production. It just lives in our world and in our culture. So it was really exciting to see the excitement around it, and it was absolutely the right choice for this cast. It’s such an ensemble-building show, and it really served that purpose as well,” Caldwell said.
Being a uniquely ensemble-based show, every cast member quickly developed strong relationships with their fellow actors, as the fast-paced banter required trust and awareness to be delivered successfully.
“It was an exchange of maybe eight different characters at once, and that was what made it super unique and a little bit more difficult — it was definitely more difficult than other years’ shows,” junior Brandon Fuladi said.
As any theater kid knows, every show is different. “Clue” is a murder-mystery comedy full of twists and turns. There is no stop to the action, and the cast gave it their all every moment they were onstage.
There was also death at every turn. Many died—some more than once, as junior Amelia Noble played three characters who all ended up dead, as well as sophomore Léo Michaud who played Mr. Boddy, and was killed twice to get the job done.
And even with all the death aside, confusion and chaos were must-haves in this production, too. Murders occurred at unexpected moments, and all the characters desperately tried to piece together the clues and find the murderer before they ended up dead, too.
“The chaos of it all is fun, which is kind of true for the whole show. As it came together, it got a little more in order, but there was still general chaos in a fun way, which allowed for a lot of creativity,” junior Teddy Wilson said.
The most chaotic and creative bit—and an audience favorite in the show—was the scene that the cast and crew of “Clue” dubbed the “Scooby-Doo Chase.”
This scene was a wild combination of flashlights, doors, puzzlement, and more that followed the frightened characters racing through Boddy Mansion in an attempt to catch the killer.
The characters became stuck in loops with revolving doors that left them befuddled. In seconds, they ran up ladders backstage to continue the chain of seamless movement. They also kept wary of their partners as every person in the house remained a murder suspect.
“It was such a fun show with such a fun group of people in such a fun environment, and the show itself was just hysterical. I had a really great time throughout the show,” junior Amelia Noble said.
“Clue” was also embedded with witty jokes and ridiculous banter that brought laughter at every show. Yet, as the cast knows, this laughter was certainly not contained to the audience alone.
“There are so many stupid, funny moments that we can just sit back and laugh at it, and no one’s taking anything too completely seriously,” said junior Evie Comis. “We all care about the show being good, but there’s no animosity anywhere. We’re all friends.”
Unexpected moments and mess-ups are inevitable in every theater production, but mistakes were plentiful with one as challenging as “Clue.”
“Because it was such a technically complex show, I knew that things would go wrong, and I knew because the show was just funny and ridiculous as it was, any mistake would kind of feel like it was on purpose and just add to that ridiculousness,” Brandon said.
Every run-through of the show brought new amusing moments. Moments that the cast had never planned for—like the chandelier tugging up and down as it ultimately fell on top of clumsy Mr. Green—made the show more enjoyable for everyone.
“My most memorable moment in a show was probably dropping dead when the gunshot sound effect didn’t go off,” Amelia said. “Or Niccolo’s monocle getting stuck in his hair. Or Alex walking offstage in the middle of the scene when it wasn’t scripted because he had forgotten a prop offstage, so everyone had to ad-lib to fill in while he was gone.”
From these silly mistakes to Alex’s ripped pants to Eleanor’s incorrect faint to Keanu’s claim that the vacuum was on fire when it was indeed just the steamer, there are so many moments from “Clue” that no one in the production will ever forget.
Through thick and thin, every member of “Clue” showed up to support each other and create a safe and loving community—both in the production process and during the shows.
“Especially in “Clue,” where the characters are so big, and there are so many big moments that they each have to have, building a community where people really feel like they can go for it and take that chance and really become their character is the most important part, at least on the acting side of putting together a good show,” Teddy said.
The shared understanding of the importance of community was perhaps the most unforgettable part of “Clue” because every member of the production cared for one another as friends and family.
“One thing about this cast was that we were still close together but could definitely joke and poke fun at each other, and we had such a strong bond that it was kind of unbreakable,” Brandon said.
Every member of the production was valued and appreciated for contributing to the incredible show. No part was too small, and no amount of effort went unnoticed.
“Everyone contributed to the show in such a meaningful way. I feel like the audience really did feel that — both with people really taking control of their main role or people stepping into several smaller roles. I feel like all of it came together and in a really good way,” Teddy said.
Looking back at the show now that it has come to a close, the cast and crew reflect on why they joined the world of theater in the first place.
Theater builds a magical community that allows freedom of creativity. Having the opportunity to be in enthralling shows like “Clue” leaves every actor never wanting the fun to end.
“It was one of the first shows where I was like ‘Wow, I could really just keep doing this.’ It was such a fun show and such a great cast. And Play Production is such a good group, and it’s so tight-knit, and this play was so much fun. There were so many moving parts and so much funny dialogue that I was just like, ‘I could really keep going. I don’t want it to be done yet,’” Evie said.
