Murder at the Disco, Ba-By

"Murder at the Disco" was a success! A $9,000 kind of success, thank you very much.

It's such a fun way to raise funds for our community theatre. We gather a bunch of great actors, give them roles and scripts, rent a banquet facility, and rehearse once or twice a few times. Then we pack the room full of ticket-holders, auction off a few dozen items, serve a lovely meal, ply the show-goers with liquor, and put on a wild show!

For this particular show, Laurie - on the right in leopard print :) - wrote the script. And it was awesome! She's also the Production Manager, meaning she does the work of about a dozen people, all while keeping a smile on her face and keeping the rest of us on task. And with this cast? That was not exactly easy.

The mystery goes like this... The deceased, Lorna Lovelost, was bludgeoned to death in her dressing room after winning the Dancing Queen Trophy at Studio 74.


There is a colorful cast of suspects such as Dexter Donaldson, the straight costume designer pretending to be gay; Chasey Chasem, the Studio 74 DJ; John Revolta, the seedy club owner; Chet Hardman, Lorna's dance partner and love interest; Pamela Goodnight, Lorna's dancing queen rival; and the Disco Duck and the Duck Handler (interpreter).

We also had a Sheriff, who led the investigation, and two newspaper reporters who tailed the suspects paparazzi-style. And the patrons act as investigators, work by table, and guess whodunit as well as determine motive, means and opportunity.

You know you've pulled of a good show when it's not so easy that everyone guesses it, but not so difficult that no one gets it right. That's a tough balance to achieve, but Laurie pulled it off as about 4 of 22 tables were right or close-to-right!


The sheriff performs the denouement at the end, revealing some very juicy details that only the craftiest questioners will root out.

Unfortunately I didn't take many pictures since I was busy trying to get my cast to stop drinking before the show directing, and I haven't gotten copies from the others yet. The newspaper reporter was kind enough to send me these few, though. The cast shot and the one of my chest-baring boyz were in the local newspaper!

Here's the cast prior to showtime. They're already drunk.

Believe it or not, I already owned those pants. I bought them about 2 years ago at our church ecology sale. I saw them and had to have them. Curiously, I bought those and a pair of fake leather snakeskin pants at the same time. (In case you're wondering? I go to a UU church. :)

And the wig? Got it at a grocery store while browsing for dog food. For $4.

As I was getting dressed, I realized the pants are SUPER high-waisted on me. Then I remembered they often wore their pants super high-waisted in the 70's, didn't they?

I'm thinking ya.

Here's me with Chet Hardman.

Who bears a strong resemblance to... Lenny of Laverne and Shirley fame.. and...


Alan Kalter, David Letterman's announcer-man.

Here's me with Dexter Donaldson...

who's got, like, a Flock-of-Seagulls-meets-Wind-Tunnel thing goin' on.

And then there's my main man and my main little man. Let me just start by saying I once counted all of Rob's chest hairs while lying in bed and it took me all of 3 seconds. Which means he either got jiggy with a bottle of Rogaine or...

we yanked hair out of his 'fro and Elmer's-glued it to his chest.

Yowza, Yowza, Yowza baby!