"A Murder is Announced" by Agatha Christie, adapted for the stage by Leslie Darbon: The quiet English village of Clipping Cleghorn is all a buzz when an announcement appears in the local newspaper about a murder taking place at Little Paddocks. Miss Blacklock, the matriarchal home owner, dismisses the advertisement as a silly prank, but the house's other residents aren't so sure. As the dreaded hour approaches, other village members start to arrive at the house to see what will happen including the sleuthing busybody Miss Jane Marple. Mystery, murder, and mayhem ensue in this delightful 1950s style "whodunnit" production.
As I have mentioned in previous posts, I'm currently working on costumes for a community theatre group in my local area. Performances start Thursday and run through Sunday, so right now we're in dress rehearsals. (Tonight will be our third of the set four dress rehearsals.) Things have really come together and the play is looking good. We've only had a few hiccups with costumes the past few days, but nothing major (which is awesome and surprising).
You see, the play takes place over the course of four days...so each actor/actress has four major costume changes. O.o We generally don't have many (if any) costume changes with these summer productions. So it's understandable that the actors were very nervous about having so many changes. (I like realism in my costumes, so if the script says four days, then you get four different costumes.) I assured them that I had planned everyhting out and things would be fine. Though deep down, I was nervous myself. (Even our director was a bit nervous about the changes.)
But things went relatively smoothly and much better than expected. (I was expecting a flurry of madness.) The actors were on top of things after reading their costume lists and listening to me explain the "plan". (I love it when they listen!) Certain actors did complain or tease me about their changes, but in truth, they all trust me. They know I know what I'm doing (and I've been doing this theatre stuff for a while).
I have worked with this same group on and off again since the summer of 2001. 10 years of summer productions! O.O Some of the group's members have changed over the years, but we have several repeat offenders--I mean, actors that have been involved with the shows since then. They have seen me grow up and I consider them part of my extended family. I have enjoyed myself a lot working on the show this summer, and have been thankful to keep my "theatre bug"alive.
(Elvish Farewell)
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