Plains Drama Club has mystery on its hands

The Plains High School Drama Club finished its third performance of "A Wing and a Prayer" in the multipurpose room on Sunday to a resounding applause, but this time the accolades weren't just for the cast - they interjected members of the audience by hiding clues in the bleachers, giving unsuspecting guests the chance to help with the mystery. And if the rest of the audience had difficulty keeping up, a "clue" sign was scrambled across the stage.

It was a whodunit two-act play that ran Friday and Saturday night and on Sunday afternoon. "We had good time with this. They developed some wonderful characters," said Terri Henry, the play's director and the first to answer a question from the cast.

Eight students - Django Oakcedar, Jacob Lulack, Mikiah Cook, Melodie Cook, Mackenzie Tulloch, Cecelia Harris, Keelie Hathorne, and Hailie Tompkins - took to the setting of a church in desperate need of repairs and money for renovation. Rev. Gavin Longacre (Lulack) and a small group of his congregation have a potluck to discuss ways to raise the funds. To their surprise, the wealthy church member, widower Lillian Kingsley (Tulloch) offers $1.5-million to pay for everything. She said the money is in her purse, in the form of jewelry. On a side note, the pastor has been getting anonymous love letters from someone. He had hoped Hazel Holgate (Mikiah Cook) would find out who.

Dreams were soon shattered when Kingsley reveals that her purse with the jewelry is missing. Fingers were pointed and accusations were made. Cast members went to the audience for help a handful of times. At each performance, just before show time, the cast selected the audience members that would hold their clues - an overdue bill for publishing of Cornelia's (Harris) book, a phone number for an FBI agent connecting Malcomb Pendleton (Oakcedar) to the Witness Protection Program, a matchbook advertising the "Boom Boom Room," a clear embarrassment to Della Drinkwater (Tompkins), a letter from Hazel's brother, a jeweler, and a political letter for local politician Jenny Lou Jefferson (Hathorne). And it ends up that Annie Christe, the church secretary (Melodie Cook) is the love letter writer.

Throughout the play, Kingsley wants to call the police, but the pastor, who loves a good mystery, wants to solve the case. Before long, everyone is a suspect at one time or another, even the widower's secret boyfriend, who happened to be in the audience. On Sunday, it was former Plains resident Mike Palaniuk, Harris' niece, who was visiting from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. In the end, there was no thief. Kingsley faked it for the insurance and hid the jewels in her covered dish, which smelled so bad that she knew no one would eat it.

Henry said they did an audience participation bit about 15 years ago. "It's a challenge to do. You never quite know what response you will get," said Henry. She added that although this play had a good handle on it, it can require a bit of improv, which she said is an art form of its own. The audience even helped raise funds for the church renovation by purchasing two cakes, one that went for $10 and the other for $20.

At the end of the play, Henry recognized the stage hands: RuBea Privett, Alex Horodyski, Greg Tatum, and Ireland Corbin. Cathy Emmett was the assistant director and Ivy Horodyski, Alex's mother, helped Emmett with makeup and hair. The students went though several scripts before choosing "A Wing and a Prayer," according to Henry. Admission for the play was $5.

Henry said the kids began rehearsing in September, one to two hours a day, five days a week. She said that the play had a good turnout all three days with close to 100 on Saturday night. The drama club will have another play in the spring.