Memorial’s first play is hitting the stage this weekend as “Clue: High School Edition” is performing four shows at Memorial Auditorium.
Nightly shows will be held Thursday through Saturday at 7 p.m. with a 2 p.m. show also on Saturday.
Sophomore Isaac Ferguson, who plays the lead as the butler Wadsworth in the board game-inspired play, said this is a unique show.
“It is very interactive with the audience, which makes me excited because we haven’t done anything like that before where there was that much audience interaction,” Ferguson said. “It’s just a great comedy, which is also something that we haven’t done before, at least I haven’t. So it’s nice to have something that’s less edgy and moody and more just kind of lighthearted. It’s something new.”
Theatre director Zachary Jackson got the idea for a clue play last year when he was still the Rider theatre teacher.
“Last year, whenever me and Mr. (Jack) Pittman did our theatre meeting for the Legacy and Memorial theatre, we had a presentation we sent out and one of the things was a questionnaire of what the students are interested in, what they liked, and murder mystery-type shows were very popular with their answers,” Jackson said. “I was like, ‘what’s a good play that’s a comedy and not too serious and inappropriate of a show for a high school,’ and Clue is one that I knew about. And I knew there was a high school version for it.”
The play is special to Jackson because of his fondness for the movie that the play is based on.
“Being able to do a stage production of something very similar to what the script is in the movie felt special to me because I grew up watching that movie, and I know a lot of my students have watched the movie,” Jackson said. “They loved the plot, the characters, the actors that are in it. So we’ve been able to use the movie as a reference for our own show. It’s just been really fun seeing it come to fruition on stage.”
The biggest challenge for Ferguson is the size of the role he’s playing.
“I think personally the hardest part is a mixture of both the volume of lines, which, in reference to some of the other characters which have around 150-160 lines. Wadsworth has close to 300,” Ferguson said. “It’s just a very high volume of lines, and as well, it’s a very physical role. Frequently, I find myself throwing myself at the floor repeatedly every practice.”
The role is also helping Ferguson grow as an actor, in being both his largest role yet and allowing him to play a different type of character than he’s played before.
“It’s allowed me to get into a character that I don’t really feel like I resonate super well with,” Ferguson said. “Granted, I do feel like I like the character. It’s just I don’t see myself in that character’s shoes as much as I have the other characters that I’ve played”
Not only have students helped contribute with their acting, but also with the set and technical components of the play. Jackson admits he’s not a tech or set person.
“We’ve had many obstacles with getting the set done so that’s the biggest issue,” Jackson said. “But our students are very handy, very helpful. They’re willing to take on those challenges, so it’s been very nice having students that want to help and get that kind of stuff done.”
Jackson said there is a lot of pressure with “Clue: High School Edition” being the first play at Memorial.
“I’ve got a lot of responsibility with my actors as well as working out schedules, and with so many different options for them to have at Memorial, scheduling does get very difficult,” Jackson said.
Ferguson is happy to be able to help bring together Memorial’s first performance outside of lip sync.
“I’m glad I got to participate,” Ferguson said. “I think it’s going to be a great play and I’m glad that I was chosen to be able to take on the responsibility of making sure that Memorial has a good start in regards to theatre.”
