By: Alexis LeMieux

This year’s fall play at Bellbrook High School will be Clue, performed November 21 – 23.

“We’d been wanting to do Clue for a couple of years now,” Alexis Breese, one of the theater directors, said. “When I first started back in 2021, we were going to do Clue as our fall show, but were unable to when we learned three other schools in the area were also doing Clue.

We finally had a group of kids that we thought could really make the show unique and gave some students an opportunity to explore in ways they might not have been able to previously,” Breese said.

“In the end, casting is a balancing act of finding actors who can bring both skill and authenticity to a role while complementing the rest of the ensemble,” theater director Jaime Burnham said. “We chose this play because it is a classic and quite funny. The cast for this show does an amazing job bringing the characters to life. We knew that this group of students would and could do this classic right.”

How the cast is chosen

A lot is considered when choosing an appropriate and fitting cast. “We take in preparedness, confidence, and choices,” Breese said. “A prepared monologue where we can see the actor pushing through their nerves and taking up the space to be heard.”

“We look for many things,” Burnham said. “Their stage presence, emotional range, versatility and range, timing and delivery, projection and clarity, expressiveness, chemistry with other actors, reliability and professionalism, intuition, and how one fits a character.”

“We also look at how everyone behaves when others are auditioning,” Breese said. “Are they being supportive, and paying attention while others are auditioning?”

“I believe that the attitude students bring into a rehearsal room is just as important as the audition itself,” Breese said. “I also take into account when I see someone cheering on not just their friends, but students they may not know.”

Two casts means more variety

There are two sets of cast members to open up more availability for participants. The performances will be split two ways: the Dagger cast and the Poison cast. “This year we were graced with so many talented actors,” Burnham said. 

On November 21 and 23 at 7pm, the Dagger cast will have their performances. The Poison cast will perform on November 22 at 7pm and November 23 at 2pm. 

Theatre is more than actors

“When I first heard about the play being Clue, I was very intrigued on how we were going to interpret the board game,” freshman assistant stage manager Riley Cates said. “My role is being in charge of all props going on and off stage. I am there for anything that needs to be done during practices.”

Producing a play requires many different talents. “All the while during rehearsal, we are completing set construction, where we build and design our set for the show,” Burnham said.

“My favorite part of the play has to be getting to see the kids take ownership of the show,” Breese said. “I love getting to see them experience what all their hard work and dedication has brought them.”

“Overall, my favorite part of working on Clue is getting to know the cast and crew members; everyone working on stage and behind the scenes are amazing people,” Cates said. “It is truly a fun experience and an adrenaline rush to run on stage quickly and transform the stage into a whole another dimension. It’s a wonderful feeling to see what was just a script and a black stage be turned into something wonderful and mysterious.”

What is Clue?

Like the board game, Clue is a play with many characters who are trying to uncover a murder. “The key with this play is that it’s fast, but that doesn’t necessarily mean we want to speed through it,” Breese said. 

“From the very first page of the script, the tension is being built until it finally explodes at the end. But we have to maintain that tension even with the comedy,” Breese said. “It takes a lot of concentration from the actors to keep focused on maintaining that pacing and tension, while also committing to being a little silly.”

Despite the seriousness when it comes to performing and producing a play, it should all be enjoyable.

“When diving into the script, I started to love Clue even more,” Cates said. “It’s a fun comedy that brings in mystery, and I believe that it’s an amazing play for the BHS students to put together.”

Behind the scenes

Putting a play together take a lot of steps. “We start our production process with a first meeting explaining all the details and expectations for the cast and crew members,” Burnham said. “We transition into blocking rehearsal, where we practice lines and movement.

After blocking is done, we do stumble throughs, which entails a very rough version of running through the whole show. This allows actors and crew members to see what and where they need to work on things to perfect their performance.

We later go into full runs, so cast and crew can get comfortable with the show. Finally, right before the live performances, we do a tech and dress rehearsal, where we add in all the lighting and sound effects, along with costumes,” Burnham said.

“One thing I love about plays is that it focuses on acting alone, without that musical element,” Burnham said.

“This allows an actor to grow tremendously and take on a character. It allows students to take risks and try out multiple ways to form their version of a character,” Burnham said. “Growth is typically seen more in actors and our students during this time, as they have one goal to bring alive the character they are portraying. It is actually a really beautiful thing to watch!”