WABASH, IN – After the success of two productions already in 2023, Wabash Area Community Theater (WACT) will continue its season with a comedy murder mystery.
WACT will share “The Night I Died at the Palace Theatre,” written by Pat Cook, the first weekend of May at the Northfield Jr. – Sr. High School auditorium. Curtains will open at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, May 5 and 6, and 2 p.m. Sunday, May 7.
The show’s playwright, Cook, is also the author of other stage hits like “Death and Taxes” and “Three Murders and It’s Only Monday!” The 12-member cast features a group of Palace Theatre actors who are about to rehearse the final scene of their next production, “I Ain’t Got No Body,” when they find their director dead on stage. What follows is a mixture of motives, laughs, and…pizza?
Sisters Madeline and Molly Dazey will make their WACT directorial debuts with the show and will lead a mixture of troupe veterans and newcomers. Brett Robinson is producer.
Cast members include Dustin Huddleston (portraying Theodore Butler), Lindsay Rice (Dana Pugh), Gwen Agnes (Lois Birdwell), Kristi Jauregui (Kalene Cooper), Gary Norman (Gordon Donnell), Lisa Rice (Ava Donnell), Sandra Bendsen (Glenda Howard), Kevin Whitmore (Luther Wallace), Rafa Cámaras (Timothy Price), Dana South (Frances Preston), Mike Barnett (Jimmy Todd) and Gregg Reed (Sgt. Mike Mallory).
“We’re very excited to have Madeline and Molly step up from onstage to the director’s chairs for this show,” WACT Board President Bev Vanderpool said. “They’ve more than paid their dues as actors in many of our shows and we can’t wait to see what this great group of actors are able to pull together.
“The community did a great job of showing up for our WACT Out Variety Show in January and followed it up with our dinner and a show production of ‘Suite Surrender’ at the Charley Creek Inn in February. Our spring comedies have a great history of bringing laughs to the community. We hope to see our usual patrons and some new ones at Northfield in early May.”
Tickets will be sold for $10 at the door and are also available through cast members ahead of time.
For more information on WACT, please visit www.wabashtheater.org. For questions, please email WACT at wabashtheater@gmail.com.
WACT’s mission is as follows: “Wabash Area Community Theater nurtures the creative spirit of area residents by providing focused educational experiences in all areas of live theater as members work to produce quality live performances that enhance Wabash’s cultural offerings.”