The Game’s Afoot cast members enjoying laughs before rehearsal, left to right standing: Laurie Overson, Donna Gray, Ray Haden; seated: John Gimon, Sophie Shrum, Shirley Robinson, Chip the dog and Jon Lindstrom. Missing from photo is Judi Blankenship.
Melissa Kallett
In PebbleCreek our season may be changing from summer to fall—but come October, when the PC Players bring you their latest production, The Game’s Afoot or Holmes for the Holiday, it will be Christmas time in the Renaissance Theater.
Awarded the 2012 Mystery Writers of America Edgar Allan Poe Award as Best Play, The Game’s Afoot is set in December 1936. Broadway star William Gillette, admired the world over for his leading role in the play Sherlock Holmes, has invited his fellow cast-members to his Connecticut mansion for a weekend of revelry. But when one of the guests is stabbed to death, the festivities in this isolated house of tricks turns dangerous. Then it’s up to Gillette himself, as he assumes the persona of his beloved Holmes, to track down the killer before the next victim appears. The danger and hilarity are non-stop in this glittering comedy!
The show features eight of your neighbors, with Ray Hayden leading the way as the “strikingly handsome” William Gillette; Shirley Robinson as his “dotty and slightly foggy” mother; Jon Lindstrom and Judi Blankenship as Felix and Madge Geisel, the “seasoned actors and slightly outspoken” members in the troop, Jon Gimon and Sophie Shrum as “the bright-eyed and bushy-tailed” newlyweds Simon and Aggie; Donna Gray as Daria Chase the “theater critic we love to hate” and Laurie Overton as the local “eccentric” police inspector. Put them all together under the direction of Melissa Kallett, on a set designed by Karen Blankenship and built by the team led by chief carpenters Bill Silverman and Joe Wallace, with costumes by Maura Weddle and lots of pulse-raising music, thunder and lightning and you’ve got yourself a fun-filled evening of mystery, comedy and entertainment.
The show runs from October 18 through 21. Tickets are $15 and go on sale beginning Saturday, September 23 in the theater from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m. (cash, check or credit card). Thereafter, tickets sales will be at the Eagle’s Nest Kiosk on Mondays and Fridays from 8:00 to 10:00 a.m. (cash, check or credit card). As an added convenience, tickets will also be available online (credit card) via a link at the pebblecreekhoa.org website. (See separate PebbleCreek Post article for details regarding online ticket sales.)
Mark your calendar and plan to secure your tickets to attend The Game’s Afoot. Trust me, you won’t want to miss the humorous, laugh out loud, “whodunit” production.