If you’re looking to rush your way through a cheaply-mounted play (and in this economy, who isn’t?), Michelle Kreitzer, director of the Elmira Theatre Company’s The Murder Room, has a playwright for you to avoid.
“The thing I like most about Jack Sharkey is that he allows challenge for everyone,” said Kreitzer “Actors, directors, light, sound – every part of the production gets an opportunity to shine. I think it’s such a big challenge for everybody involved, and I love the way he creates that.”
![Debbie Deckert, Sue Jennings, Evelyn Barber, and Dale Kustra work their way through the ETC production of The Murder Room.[submitted]](https://www.observerxtra.com/content/images/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/arts3.jpg)
The Murder Room, which opened Friday, is a full-on, door-slamming farce, requiring pinpoint timing and plenty of boisterous energy. This is the third time Kreitzer has adapted one of the late Chicago playwright’s works, and she finds that each time, her collaborators welcome the challenge.
“Everybody who comes out to audition or do lights and sound, they come because they love it,” she said. “So if you challenge them to push themselves further in something that they love to do, it creates internal motivation, and then they push themselves harder. Suddenly you’ve got this challenge that they have succeeded at.”
The Murder Room tells the sordid tale of Mavis Templeton Hollister, a “villainess” having an illicit affair, whose attempts to murder her husband all end in failure. Everything seems to be coming up roses after she finally shoots her spouse three times, but fortune turns against her when it is discovered her gun was loaded with blanks. With the body missing, all manner of shenanigans ensue, in what the Elmira Theatre Company promises will be a “three-act, British-style farce.”
“This particular show has that very fast, witty repartee, kind of like ‘Who’s on First,’ Abbott and Costello,” explained Kreitzer.
“It’s a farce, so you have to have the misrepresentation, and the jumping in and out of doors, and everybody appearing where you’re not expecting them to appear. And this show is a murder mystery, so we’ve also got people popping in and out of trap doors, and secret doorways…”
Getting caught up in what she was saying, Kreitzer laughed. “There’s just so much happening, it’s hard to believe he can fit it into three acts.”
All of this requires Kreitzer and the cast – a six-person ensemble consisting of Lorne Flemming, Sue Jennings, Evelyn Barber, Laird Drexler, Deb Deckert, and Dale Kustra – to be on their toes.
“People think comedy is easy, but it’s very, very difficult,” said Kreitzer. “The nice thing is, if you do it well, and you’ve got that timing and that connection with the audience, it looks easy.”
Kreitzer has directed community theatre in Elora and Guelph, but The Murder Room marks her first venture in Elmira. So far, the experience has been rewarding.
“They’re a great group. They’re very dedicated and very devoted. This is quite a challenging show for actors – there are lots of lines and lots of movement and a little bit of acrobatics – and they’ve put themselves to the test. They’ve been fantastic.”
The Murder Room is now playing at the Elmira Theatre Company facility, 76 Howard Ave. Show times are tonight (Saturday), May 2-4 and 9-11 at 8 p.m., plus Sunday matinees on April 28, May 5, and May 11 at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $18, and can be purchased online via the Centre in the Square box office (www.centre-square.com).
