Leilani Ibanez

Supporting senior Gavin Horton by his shoulders, sophomore and actor Darius Normandi poses for a group picture with part of Clue’s cast. The play will be in the cafeteria, bringing other challenges along with it. “I’m really excited because I’ve never done a 360-degree level cafeteria performance before,” Normandi said. “I really hope it turns out well, but I don’t have any experience with this kind of thing. I trust that other people know what they’re doing though. It has been tiring with all the late nights going home after school, but I really hope everyone enjoys it and that our efforts have been worth it.” Used with permission from Leilani Ibanez

Within the shadows, terror, fear and death lurk. A murder.

Who done it? Was it bumbling Professor Plum with the lead pipe in the study? Perhaps it was dignified Ms. Peacock with a revolver in the lounge, or wait, was it impenetrable Ms. Scarlett? With the mansion’s mysterious secrets and suspicion lurking around every corner, everyone is a suspect. The theater department is back  tonight and tomorrow with a dinner theater production of “Clue.” 

Based on the movie and well-known household board game, this who-done-it’s showings are Friday, Feb. 2 and Saturday, Feb. 3 at 6 p.m. Unlike usual, the play will be in the cafeteria, rather than on the stage, providing a new viewing experience for both the audience and actors.

“We have to consider that there’s an audience all around us and we can’t turn away if we break character,” junior Evan Schmitt, who plays Wadsworth the butler, said. “We also have to be mindful of audience members behind us that can’t see if we don’t move out of the way. It’s tricky. I’m always trying to think about who is behind me and how I am blocking their view of the show. If that happens, I need to make sure I get out so that they see as much of the show as possible.”

Preparing for the show has been made even more difficult due to performing on the cafeteria floor, according to sophomore and assistant stage manager Brianna Harris. The actors have been learning to adjust to being in the audience’s view the entire time and the set designers have made furniture no more than waist height to prevent the audience’s view from getting obscured. 

“It’s really hard to build suspense in a murder mystery when the audience can see every room, which makes blocking a pain,” sophomore Darius Normandi, who plays the Motorist, said. “There aren’t any walls, so we have to pretend like there’s walls and doors everywhere all the time even though there aren’t any. It’s pretty hard to remember to fake closing and opening a door everytime you walk into a room and we’ve all been working to make sure we get that down.”

This year, the theater department’s shows have been working under a time crunch, but “Clue” especially. Not including tech week, the actors have only had two weeks of rehearsals, whereas productions usually have from three-five weeks to prepare. Rehearsals for “Frankenstein” are beginning just as “Clue” wraps up, leaving no time to spare.

“It’s very stressful,” Schmitt said. “It’s a lot to learn in a short amount of time and memorizing lines is difficult, especially because there’s a lot of talking in it. The show coming up is kind of scary because we haven’t had a whole lot of time to prepare, but I think it’ll be good. We’ve worked hard and it’s a new experience.”

Normandi, who transferred to Cedar Park this year, said that his involvement with theater was something he’d wanted to do and was readily accepted by everyone. With the full schedule of an actor in the show, he’s been learning to adjust.

“I’ve been really busy and my friends are all mad at me because I never have time to do anything after school,” Normandi said. “They keep trying to get me to skip rehearsal, but I always turn them down. It’s crunched my schedule a bit, but it’s all worth it because theater is something that I enjoy doing.”

Working in tech, Harris said that the set requires a lot more planning and mapping, especially for distinction between each room, but despite the busyness, fun memories are still being made.

“Whenever we first started the show I made a quote book for funny and random things that everyone says,” Harris said. “Getting to add to that and having a positive thing to think about every day at rehearsal is really fun. I know it’s not great but when people first got their lines, it was so funny to watch monologues get messed up and lines be said that aren’t in the script. We were all just laughing, the falling and deaths scenes were all hilarious during rehearsal.”

With the arrival of what the department calls tech week, which is the week of the performance that is filled with rehearsals and complete with hair, makeup and costumes, the actors have begun to get more serious with practicing.

“The cast all gets along pretty well. Sometimes someone will make eye contact and laughter ensues, it’s pretty light hearted,” Schmitt said. “The set is a recreation of the game board for Clue and when the show happens, it’ll get moved out onto the floor and then all the furniture goes on top of it. It looks so close to the game board, it’s so cool. It’ll be a good experience to perform with it.”

The show has been rewarding but hard work, according to Harris. Her job as assistant stage manager consists of shadowing the stage manager, ready to step in at a moment’s notice, calling cues if need be. She’s in charge of taking attendance for tech and relaying information. 

“I love working under pressure, having that motivation and challenging myself every rehearsal,” Harris said. “Sometimes it gets hard, but the bonds you create with everyone else and the trust that you share throughout the whole process is another reason why I keep coming back to it, and what helps me get through everything. I’m proud of the show because the rehearsal process has been really short. Trying to get prepared for tech week was super stressful and chaotic at times, but we managed to get through it. I’m proud of everyone and how far we’ve come from the beginning.”