Everyone knows there’s more to a performance than meets the eye, but what really happens behind the scenes?
On the weekend of November 15-16th, Grier School performed its annual fall play, and the reception was incredible. The 2024 fall play was a comedic parody of a murder-mystery titled The Murder Mystery at the Murder Mystery.The crowds were laughing on the verge of tears, the acting was flawless, and the feedback received from students who had seen the show all shared the same thoughts: “It was spectacular!”
Everyone who’s seen a play can attest that a well put together show is impressive both inside and out. Despite this, many people only take in the big picture, overlooking the intricacies and hours of time actors spend rehearsing even the smallest of roles and most niche of details. To combat this issue, we interviewed some people who were involved in the production, to get a feel for the work these talented students put in.
(Chris Fernandes)
The play follows a group of actors’ final dress rehearsal before a show, where everything seems to be going wrong. The lights and sound cues are firing at the wrong time, the actors are all getting frustrated, and their British accents are, as the characters themselves admit, “bad.” Still, the show must go on–that is until their faux murder mystery becomes all too real when one of the actors is found on the floor dead with a fire poker through his chest. The rest of the play is hilarious chaos and confusion as multiple people try and fail to figure out who the murderer is, and more and more people drop dead like flies.
The humor is on point, putting a funny twist on the usual mystery trope. The humor is on point, putting a funny twist on the usual mystery trope. Charlotte Raynes, ‘26, who played Richard Green (Mr. Polk) in the play, said that the laughter the show brought was not just confined to the audience. According to her, behind the scenes was “freaking hilarious” as well. “Looking back, it’s very silly,” Charlotte said. “The first couple weeks that we ever spent on the play, we could not stop laughing.”
That’s not to say every part of preparation was all fun and games, of course. There was a lot of hard work from everyone involved to make certain that the two performance days were nothing short of perfect. “The process of learning your lines, depending on how many you have, is always a little difficult because everybody has a different way of learning them,” said sophomore Mya Beisel, who played Erica in the play. “Then we also had to think about the props and how everything was going to work.”
It was obvious how much the show meant to these students. Everyone involved in the play expressed clear enthusiasm in their participation, and even hurdles were overcome with a smile. Clearly, everyone was determined to make these performances as amazing as possible. “For the last two weeks before performances, we were rehearsing every day of the week… running through the whole show as much as we could,” said senior CJ Wagner, who was in charge of lighting.
Students credit the Grier theater program with helping them prepare the performance and realize their love for the arts. Multiple actors involved only started acting when they first came to Grier, and a few aspire to act professionally, believing that their experiences with the theater program have helped them tremendously. “Being in a play is like playing make-believe, but like in an adult way, a socially acceptable way. You get to be somebody you’re not,” said Aster Fernandes, ‘28. At the end of the day, performances like these are exciting and fun for all involved. From the actors, to lighting and sound effects, there is something for everyone to enjoy. As applause roars out from an appreciative audience, preparation begins for the next show-stopping performance.
