Well hot diggity dog! I can’t believe it’s almost time to get this show under way. Billy St. John has once again supplied us with a wonderful story of an extremely dysfunctional family and lots of very odd characters indeed. If you don’t re-call, Billy St. John also wrote Southern Fried Murder which we performed a couple of years ago at Giffey Hall. In my opinion, this is a much better play than that one, and we all loved Southern Fried Murder! I think our patrons will be even happier when they find out they will get to dine downstairs as usual, instead of being served by the cast as we did in the previous adventure.

If you took the game of “Clue” and turned it into a play, then by golly you’d have Murder’s in the Heir! We are able to put this production on in cooperation with Pioneer Drama Service and thankful to have it. The story takes place in Starkweather Mansion, were the tyrannical billionaire, Simon Starkweather has gathered his friends and family for the reading of his will. He has his lawyer, Lois van Zandt read the will to the family, in which he has bequeathed vast fortunes to his befuddled niece Fiona, her playboy son Jordan, his southern-belle great-niece Paula, grandson Simon III and a host of very zany servants. Then when Lois reveals that the “will” becomes invalid at midnight, mayhem breaks loose in Starkweather Mansion. Believe it or not, an unseen murder takes place! Each of the characters has the opportunity, weapon, and motive for murder.

It will be up to YOU, the audience to determine the ending. With the help of detective Mike Davis you will get to use secret ballots (gathered at intermission) to decide who the murderer was. The show is scheduled for September 19, 20, 23, 26, 27 &28. We hope to see all of you there. I would like to encourage you all to call early to order tickets, as these shows are tremendously popular and can sell out very quickly.

Auditions are set for August 25 and 26 of 2003. The cast is somewhat flexible. It takes roughly 5 men, 8 women, and 2 that can be either. What do you need to prepare for this audition you may ask? You really don’t need to worry your little heads about it! It will be an extremely fun audition. We will play a couple of acting games to help you relax and then you will have a chance to read from the script with the others trying out. We will be looking for people that have lots of character that will bring a character to life. Each member of this cast has the opportunity to steal the hearts and laughter of the audience. You needn’t be an experienced actor to take part. If it’s something you’ve always wanted to try, I’d love to help you learn how to act and develop a character. It’s a tremendous amount of fun. Don’t cheat yourself out of a wonderful opportunity.

Ed Mooney will be my assistant director. Please feel free to contact me (Steve Van Sickle) at 419-445-0391 or email me at: broncos@fulton-net.com if you have any questions. I’m just dying to see you!