Neillsville Area Players, school drama club present murder mystery-comedy
For the second year in a row, the Neillsville Area Players will be working alongside the Neillsville High School Drama Club in putting on a series of performances during the month of October. The two groups will present “Finders Creepers,” a murder mystery-comedy, at the Neillsville High School Auditorium at 401 Center Street.
“Finders Creepers” is a play written by Donald Payton. The synopsis of the play is as follows: Hercules Nelson’s aunt and uncle invite him and his best friend Lucas to spend the weekend with them. With suitcases in hand, the boys drive to Uncle Bob’s to discover that Uncle Bob is a mortician and there’s a funeral scheduled Monday. Well, it’s not long before things start happening in ways that would put most brave men to flight. For one thing, the corpse walks, reads the paper and climbs into bed with Hercules. He gallivants around in a most “un-corpus delicti” fashion! Needless to say, the boys are terrified until they find out that Mr. Quigley, the corpse, isn’t really dead. Someone tried to knock him off while he was sleeping, so he devised a plan: he’d make his family think he was dead, and then show up at his own funeral to trap the guilty party. No doubt Mr. Quigley had a good plan and no doubt things would have ended peacefully, but there’s two things he failed to consider… Lucas Maxwell and Hercules Nelson. Fortunately, they all escape with their hides, but not before of the wildest finishes ever.
The Neillsville Area Players and Neillsville High School Drama Club have been working on the performance since the beginning of September. Bunny Dux, co-director of the play, said Finders Creepers has been a play the Neillsville Area Players have wanted to do for a very long time. With the help of the Neillsville High School Drama Club, she said they now have the cast needed for the play.
“We did ‘Mamma Mia’ last summer, and we all wanted to do another play again,” she said. “We had tried back in 2004 to put a production together for ‘Finders Creepers,’ but we couldn’t get a cast. I’ve always had this play in mind and thought it would be a good idea to do.”
With both groups working together, Dux said this year’s production will have a variety of actors of different ages and experiences. This mix has been beneficial, as it teaches the young actors more skills and allows the older actors to pass on their knowledge and have a more rounded cast to work with.
“We have characters that are different ages in the play,” she said. “You have characters in their 40s, 70s and 80s. Everyone is taking part; we wouldn’t be able to put this production together without the two groups working together. We complement each other and need each other now.”
Compared to previous plays, “Finders Creepers” is different than what the performers have done in recent years. Unlike other productions that have massive sets that need to be changed between scenes, the entire play in Finders Creepers takes place in one location.
“All of this takes place in the mortuary chapel,” said Dux. “It’s a single-set production. The people move, not the set.”
Even with one set, Dux said the play has many twists and turns that make the story engaging from beginning to end.
“There’s lots of tomfoolery and subplots,” she said. “If it was just about the funeral home and Hercules, it would probably not be very fun, but it’s all the little things in there that make for an interesting production. The truth doesn’t get revealed until the very end, and it is very fun to guess which direction it’s going to go.”
The play is directed by Bunny Dux and Jo Zier, produced by Jodi Rueth and sound and lights are by Dale Erickson. The cast of the play includes Mark Jorgensen as Lucas Maxwell; Will Drinka as Hercules Nelson; Mireya Ziebell as Celeste Nelson; Margaret Canfield as Nicholle Quigley; Izzy Stenulson as Stevie Nelson; Kris Magnus as Aunt Mary; Tim Brekke as Uncle Bob; Bunny Dux as Granny; Dan Clark as Mr. Quigley; Tom Opelt as Dr. Brown; Nancy Halterman as Madeline; Jay Harwood as Harry Schuster; Jo Zier as Daphne; Todd Prosser as Claude; and Kaden Dux as Henry.
Dates for showings of the play are Oct. 20, 21, 27 and 28 at 7 p.m. and Oct. 22 and 29 at 1 p.m. Tickets are $10 at the door.
Shown above (l-r), Kris Magnus, Bunny Dux, Dan Clark and Tim Brekke rehearse in preparation of performing “Finders Creepers.” The first performance will be Oct. 20 at 7 p.m. at Neillsville High School.
CHEYENNE THOMAS/STAFF PHOTO
