Casting is complete for the second production at Theatre 29, the Morongo Basin’s premiere playhouse. “The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen’s Guild Dramatic Society Murder Mystery: Murder at Checkmate Manor,” directed by theater veteran Marty Neider, is a comedy by David McGillivray and Walter Zerlin Jr. about a drama group that experiences the horrors of what can go wrong on opening night. The scenery collapses, cues are missed, lines forgotten, and the sound effects take on a strange note at times, as the ladies present their ambitious evening’s entertainment with the cunning whodunit, “Murder At Checkmate Manor.” And just in case the audience should get bored, there’s a Film and Fashion Show and Murder Mystery Quiz, complete with a prize. The crunch comes in the denouement, when the “murderer,” about to be revealed, has to rush home to bandage up an injured daughter. But Mrs. Reece, doyenne of the group, rises above the slings and arrows of outrageous dramatics to save the situation and provide the final inventive twist. Managing editor Tami Roleff starts naming names …
Donette Swain has been cast as Phoebe Reece, who herself plays five different roles in “The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen’s Guild Dramatic Society Murder Mystery: Murder at Checkmate Manor.” Char Childs plays Thelma Greenwood, who has two roles in the play within a play. Mandi Pushkar is cast as Audrey Forbes-Farguahar, who has four roles; Amanda Winters will portray Felicity Crabtree, who is cast as two actors. Also cast in the play are Curtis Mohn and Brianna Sears as stagehands, and Leonard Weber as the Inspector. The Farndale Murder Mystery opens at Theatre 29 February 28 and runs for five weekends, with 2:30 Sunday matinees March 9 and 23. Showtimes are 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays.
Reporting for Z107.7, this is Managing Editor Tami Roleff.
