West students turn stage into silver screen in '40s-style murder comedy

Picture yourself going back in time; back to the time of men and women in suits and hats swapping repartees with each other.

Back to the time of black and white motion pictures of the 1940s with Cary Grant and Rosalind Russell.

The students of West Aurora High School's Theatre Troop 2013 invite audience members to travel back in time at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 20-21, as they present John Bishop's Broadway comedy "The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940" at the West High Auditorium, 1201 W. New York St., Aurora.

The play is set in 1940 New York in the mansion of art patron Elsa Von Grossenkneuten who has invited a selection of producers, directors, lyricists and composers to her home to solve a murder mystery.

Many of the characters use multiple accents and the set is constructed with hidden passages and revolving bookcases to add to the mystery.

The student actors will bring the play to life by adjusting their makeup, costumes, set and props so that the auditorium stage will look every bit like an old black and white movie would look like on the silver screen.

Director Ken Ruffalo said he wanted to do a comedy this year.

"I always wanted to do a show in black and white," he said. "It's a big challenge. We'll use grays and shadows for the faces and use blush in different shades of gray," he explained.

Senior student directors Jessica Simpson of Batavia and Katie Wolther of Aurora have been working all fall on the programs, ads and T-shirts for the production and are helping transform the stage to give it a black and white look.

"We need to find black, white and silver props and we'll probably need a lot of spray paint, too," Simpson said.

Early on in rehearsals, Ruffalo said that the dialogue was a bit slow paced.

Ruffalo said that associate director Jan Pauley took time one Friday afternoon to screen portions of the 1940 Cary Grant film "His Girl Friday" to give the teenagers a chance to listen to the fast-paced speech of that film era.

Junior Madeline Smith of Aurora plays Denise Roth, the lyricist. She is a big fan of old movies and she thinks that the cast benefited from the viewing of the old movie.

"Since the seventh grade I've always played the damsel in distress or the dumb blonde," Smith recalled. "It's great to step out and be an open and crazy character in this play."

"It's an over the top part. My character drinks a lot and slurs her words and she is oblivious to the murders going on around her," Smith said.

Smith is planning on wearing a crazy wig for her part but has to make sure it's black, white and/or gray covering her blonde hair to fit with the monochromatic theme.

"We're hoping the audience will understand what we are doing and not think we are bland," she said. "The characters are so colorful in this play. This is new and different and exciting and I think trying this will have a positive effect on the audience and the school," Smith said.

Senior Jazzlyn Luckett plays producer Marjorie Baverstock with her ever present lengthy cigarette holder placed between her fingers until it falls to the floor when the other characters discover at the end of the first act that Margery has been stabbed to death.

"One of my favorite things about this character is my cigarette holder," Luckett said. "I use a weird accent and a high voice and I'm the first one dead."

Luckett is also the West High student representative on the school board.

Senior Hadley Sibon plays the maid Helsa Wenzel who is murdered in the first scene of the play. She spends the remainder of the play as her twin brother Dieter who is impersonating Helga.

"I am always a maid, but at the end they pull off my wig and my voice lower and it reveals I am a man," she said.

"This play is definitely not anything anyone's expecting," Sibon said. "It's really funny and I think everyone will really enjoy it."

Reserved tickets are $8 a piece and are available by calling the high school at (630) 301-5600.

If you go

What: West Aurora High School's production of "The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940"

When: 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 20-21

Where: The auditorium at West Aurora High School, 1201 W. New York St., Aurora

Tickets: $8, available in advance or at the door

Call: (630) 301-5600

Cast and crew

Rene Allen, Moriah Baltz, Kyle Chambers, Amanda Deligiannis, Em Fagan, Bobby Frieders, Rachel Giles, Eric Geweniger, Michael Hohm, Chelsea Lorenz, Jazzlyn Luckett, Talia Matteson, Kirsten Olson, Hadley Sibon, Jessica Simpson, Madeline Smith, Bess Spaargaren, Katie Walther, Chris Ward