I love a good murder mystery and a good comedy. Put the two together, and I’m hooked. I absolutely want to laugh about solving a murder or two. And maybe someone getting what’s coming to them.
Someone nearly getting murdered is almost as good.
This was the premise of the play, She Wrote, Died, and Then Wrote Some More, a one-act play by Steven Stack and put on by the Breakthrough Theatre Company. I was able to see the play with my wife this past Monday night as a make-up showing for the missed Sunday performance. (No Mother’s Day showings, I’m afraid.)
The play is about writer Alina Devereaux, who wrote a runaway bestseller 15 years ago before disappearing from public view, never producing another work. That is until tonight.
Tonight is Alina’s launch party for her new 2,700-page memoir filled with every moment in her life, from birth up to three hours ago when she finished it.
The problem is, her agent can’t find any publishers who are interested in a 2,700-page memoir, unless she died that night.
Which she did. Fell right down on the floor, poisoned.
We all know it was murder, but who did it? And did they really even do it? What if Alina is faking her own death?
Was it Minnie Matthews, Alina’s publisher? Or Alina’s sister, Vivian, and her boyfriend, Barnabas? Was it Nicholas Springfield, the only journalist to show up at the launch party, or was it Anna Marie Silverstreet, the actress who has written a script of this night, including the part where Alina died?
This comedic one-act mystery features betrayals, broken hearts, a story of two one-of-a-kind lovers, and more twists than a bowl of fusilli pasta.
Felicia Melcer, one of BRT’s mainstay actors, played Alina Devereaux, the hopelessly optimistic author of the 2,700-page memoir. Minnie Matthews (Cynthia Ros McClendon), Alina’s publisher, said the only way Alina’s book will get published is if Alina dies. Soon.
But has Alina been murdered, or is she only faking it?
We immediately figure out what’s going on and who “killed” Alina Devereaux, but there’s more than one person who wants her dead, and if she doesn’t figure that out soon, all could be lost.
Alina’s maid Marian played by Victoria Febo-Cruz (previously seen in the Crazy Little Thing Called Murder readings and Reefer Madness, both at BRT) is hilarious in her attempts to not only help Alina, but to find her one true love: a man who shares the same disorder in which she faints whenever she’s startled and then tries to murder the person who startled her.
There were a couple of funny moments when the cast needed to cycle through several conversations at once, and someone on stage said, “If only we had a way for each suspect to give a brief monologue explanation of why their piece of evidence was left on the body.” I’m always a fan of fourth wall breaks and I appreciated this show dropping in two of them for a good laugh.
Throughout the play, Alina seems to have accidentally killed Dean Farnsworth, another writer, her own sister, and her sister’s boyfriend. That may be a problem.
Breakthrough Theatre is always good for a fun and simple comedy, and they’ve had several good showings this year. I know any time I want something fun and light, I can count on Breakthrough Theatre to give me several good laughs in an evening.
There are two more weekends for shows. The last day is May 26th.
Show times are Fridays, Saturdays, and Mondays at 8 p.m., and Sundays at 3 p.m.
Ticket Prices:
$20.00 General Admission
$18.00 Seniors 60+
$16.00 Students
$14.00 Monday Performances
$12.00 Breakthrough Alumni
Tickets may be purchased online at breakthroughtheatre.com/tickets or at the box office when you arrive for the show.
Cast & Crew
- Alina Deveraux (the writer): Felicia Melcer
- Marian (the maid): Victoria Febo-Cruz
- Minnie Matthews (the agent): Cynthia Ros McClendon
- Vivian Deveraux (the sister): Kristin Pringle-Marksbury
- Barnabas Buckley (the bf): Joe Russell
- Anna Marie Silverstreet (the actress): Jessica Griggs
- Dean Farnsworth (the neighbor): Nishit Tailor
- Nicolas Springfield (the reporter): Leo Polanco
- Elizabeth Montgomery (the other writer): Candace Steele
- Steffan Spade (the detective): Kyle Louis Kleckner
Photo credit: Breakthrough Theatre Company